A law needs to be proposed that would limit the number of houses that can be bought by these real estate companies that then do very little to fix them up and — within just a few days — put low-income renters in who get government assistance.
The houses on certain blocks in Rhawnhurst and Mayfair can go for anywhere between $900 to $1,500 a month. Yet we have people living on these blocks paying $50 to $70 a month in rent. The owners do very little to keep tabs on their tenants, who don’t seem to care about the property because they don’t own it.
Meanwhile, those of us who worked hard to be able to afford to buy houses are left with increasing crime and the risk of lowered property values. The real estate companies appear to buy the houses in cash and then — already having a list of low-income people who get government rent assistance — throw them in there in just a matter of days. This is how many neighborhoods are ruined because these people are given something they didn’t have to work for and don’t take care of the property because it isn’t theirs.
If the number of low-income rentals and placements on a block can be limited, neighborhoods can be saved and trouble can be kept to a minimum.
Peter DiGiuseppe
Rhawnhurst
