When Ends Refuse to Meet

Today’s rent intervention didn’t have exactly the ending I had hoped for. The good news was that by the time I arrived this afternoon, the family had managed to scrape together enough money from friends to make their rent payment. The bad news that no one saw coming was that the apartment management declared that the young mother and her 3-week-old baby had to move out because of over-crowding.

She was devastated by the news, on top of feeling strapped financially. I read the little hand-written note in Spanish and noticed that it did not indicate by when this had to happen. So I suggested that the grandmother and I go over to the rental office to find out.

Apparently there is a county regulation that mandates a certain number of square feet per person and limits occupancy to two persons per bedroom. This family well exceeds that limit right now, although I must say the baby doesn’t take up a lot of space. The management office gave them until April 1 to address this problem.

They have the option of looking for a 3-bedroom apartment and all moving, but that would probably double their current rent (that they are having difficulty paying).

I called a lawyer friend who put me in touch with a housing office in Arlington County. It turns out that a certain number of apartments come available each month under Section 8, under which the occupant pays just one-third of his/her salary in rent. There are no guarantees of what will be available and there may be a waiting list for such housing.

I will continue to make phone calls, but I may be powerless to solve this housing problem.

Meanwhile the baby is thriving. She is already up to 9 pounds and is absolutely beautiful. She wakes up just once at night and never cries. She seems totally unaffected by all the worrying going on all around her. Here she is just after getting a bath. She is wearing a sweater made by a Blogger friend.