Stuck In A Brooklyn Shelter, Mother Of 3 Struggles To Find A Home

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Finally today, we look at a complicated journey from a homeless shelter to a permanent home. Shakira Crawford is a homeless single mother of three searching for an apartment in New York City. The city has agreed to pay three-quarters of her rent, but months into her search, Crawford and her children are still living in a shelter in Brooklyn. Mirela Iverac from member station WNYC reports.

MIRELA IVERAC, BYLINE: Shakira Crawford has only seen two apartments, and she didn't get either of them. She's learning that landlords don't want to accept a city voucher to pay the rent. Now she's in Brooklyn's East New York to see a third apartment. After the previous disappointments, she's doing her best to keep her emotions in check, but for a woman who easily breaks into a smile that shows her perfect teeth, it's hard.

SHAKIRA CRAWFORD: I want - I'm excited, but I don't want to be too, too excited. But it's like I can't hold back my excitement (laughter).

IVERAC: She stops on the sidewalk to take off her sneakers, puts on black suede heels...

CRAWFORD: Sort of professional Shakira (laughter).

IVERAC: ...And enters the building.

(SOUNDBITE OF BUZZING)

CRAWFORD: Wow.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: How are you doing?

CRAWFORD: I'm in Shakira Crawford.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I'm (inaudible).

CRAWFORD: Hi. Nice to meet you.

IVERAC: It's a two bedroom with a large living room. There's a pass-through in the kitchen wall that lets Crawford see into the dining area. The apartment is clean, quiet.

CRAWFORD: I saw the building last night on the internet. I knew it. And coming all day, I had, like, this good feeling that I'm going to love it, and I do.

IVERAC: She already sees her bright-eyed, eight-year-old girl Julia and her two boys here.

CRAWFORD: Hear myself calling Joshua and Jordan - make sure you clean your room up (laughter) 'cause they know I don't like messy room.

IVERAC: She know how she'll furnish the place.

CRAWFORD: Picture frames 'cause I like paintings and a IKEA vibe (laughter). And I'll have my little table where they can sit and eat. And I'll have a little couch here and a little TV. I see them having their room. Their beds could be bunk beds. It's fine. Have my curtains up - you know, nice colorful, like, calming colors - blue, a little orange over there or pink. Yeah.

IVERAC: The city would pay $1,100 out of the $1,500 rent for this apartment with four months up front. But a few days later, Crawford gets an e-mail from the management company.

CRAWFORD: I teary-eyed a little. Yeah, I did. I cried a little.

IVERAC: She still got turned down. The e-mail says every tenant has to earn 40 times the rent - $60,000 - and have a credit score of 700. She doesn't satisfy any of those requirements. In New York City, it's illegal to reject someone for an apartment just because they have a voucher.

STEVEN BANKS: And there are already 85 investigations proceeding with respect to violations of our strong local law that prohibits source of income discrimination.

IVERAC: Steven Banks is commissioner of the city's largest welfare agency.

BANKS: In Ms. Crawford's case, there is a concern clearly that there were - there are other pretexts that are being applied that are essentially source of income discrimination. We're certainly going to be pursuing action against the particular brokers and landlords that she would like us to take when we reach out to her and follow up with her.

IVERAC: Yuco Management, the company that rejected her - they declined to comment.

CRAWFORD: It's part of life, too, right? You can't give up, right? I can't give up at all. I have three, you know, wonderful people in my life that's looking up to me, you know, so I have to do my best for them, too.

IVERAC: In this case, her best wasn't good enough.

JOSHUA: I was really sad because I wanted the apartment.

IVERAC: Thirteen-year-old Joshua has seen some of his friends move out of the shelter.

JOSHUA: And next time, that's going to be me.

IVERAC: Crawford calls and knocks on more brokers' doors - 60 in total - but Joshua's prediction doesn't come true. Ten months after she and her children started looking for a home, they're still stuck in the shelter system.

CRAWFORD: Gosh, the year's about to finish, and I'm still here. Am I ever going to find a place?

IVERAC: Crawford wishes she had more time to search. She also wishes people at her shelter had helped her more. Most family shelters have housing specialists. Crawford's doesn't, but the woman who runs it, Robin Brown, says her staff has done its part. She thinks the city needs to step up and convince landlords to participate.

ROBIN BROWN: If there was more buy-in from the landlords and the brokers and there were more apartments available for low income housing for families - you know, those things help.

IVERAC: Thirty-eight-hundred households have moved out of shelters using the voucher, but more than 7,000 are still stuck in the system. City officials say it'll take time for the inflated housing market to absorb them. That's how they explain Crawford's year of disappointment and turmoil.

CRAWFORD: I feel like I've been through so much, you know? And then my kids, too - I don't want them to go through the same thing.

IVERAC: For now, the only home they have is the shelter in Brooklyn. Like thousands of other families, they continue looking for a way out. For NPR News, I'm Mirela Iverac.

MARTIN: This story was produced in partnership with WNYC. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.