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Relocation Process Leaves Some Rabbi Shulman Residents Feeling Mistrustful Of Housing Authority

Gemma DiCarlo / WVPE Public Radio

Over 70 residents of South Bend’s Rabbi Shulman public housing complex still need to be rehoused after the housing authority declared the building unsafe in November, a process that has left many residents feeling mistrustful of the housing authority.

Rodney Gadson is the director of the South Bend Tenant Association, a local organization that’s been helping Rabbi Shulman residents find new housing. 

 

He said according to the tenants he’s worked with, the building has been unsafe for a long time. He said those residents have struggled to get work orders fulfilled for mold and pest issues, as well as faulty gas and water service. 

 

Gadson said that meant residents were doubly frustrated when the building’s closure was announced last year – they were frustrated at having to live in unsafe conditions, and then being forced to move on short notice. 

 

“In their position, to be quite frank, it sucks," he said. "It just sucks. There’s no sense of justice – that’s how the tenants feel.”

 

At the housing authority’s most recent Board of Commissioners meeting, officials said they were “steadily” working to relocate the Rabbi Shulman residents. They said all residents who requested a federal housing voucher had been granted one, and they’d found various housing complexes willing to take in new residents.

 

While Gadson said there’s still “a lack of trust and communication” between residents and the housing authority, he said the tenant association is committed to helping find the remaining residents new places to live.

 

Contact Gemma atgdicarlo@wvpe.orgor follow her on Twitter at@gemma_dicarlo.

 

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Gemma DiCarlo came to Indiana by way of Athens, Georgia. She graduated from the University of Georgia in 2020 with a degree in Journalism and certificates in New Media and Sustainability. She has radio experience from her time as associate producer of Athens News Matters, the flagship public affairs program at WUGA-FM.
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