Housing advocates: Brooklyn Homes residents shouldn't face eviction after mass shooting
BALTIMORE -- The possibility of eviction looms over the heads of many Brooklyn Homes residents following a mass shooting that devastated the community in July.
Now, a local organization is accusing the housing authority of Baltimore City of "threatening families with homelessness" while they are still reeling from the July 2 tragedy.
Baltimore Renters United is citing statements made at the city council hearing on the Brooklyn Homes shooting earlier this month and changes to housing authority policy that seem to have happened under the radar.
"You are not uplifting a community if you are displacing and shattering that community, and that's what evictions do," Baltimore Renters United tenant advocate, Indigo Null, said.
Following the mass shooting at Brooklyn Homes in which two people were killed and 28 people were injured, the housing authority of Baltimore City CEO Janet Abrahams said HABC would update its policy to increase security at all its housing complexes and crack down on the rules.
"The consequence is to make sure that we terminate their lease," Abrahams said at a city council hearing on July 13.
Null said BRU has been working with Brooklyn Homes tenants who feel the crackdown is misplaced.
"They get the sense that HABC is essentially trying to shift the blame onto them for what happened," said Null.
On July 18, the HABC board of commissioners adopted a resolution that would consider the use of any indoor or outdoor utility without prior written approval a material violation of the lease.
"Even if you did something like had a birthday party outside and brought a boom box, that would probably be an actual violation of the lease," Null said. "It does seem like sort of a direct response to what happened and sort of a way to deter folks from having any events there."
BRU claims this violates a federal HUD statute that requires the authority to give tenants at least 30 days to comment on new regulations. They're now calling for HABC to remove the amended language adopted on July 18, pause eviction filings and improve responsiveness to tenants.
"A lot of these issues would not be happening if you could get someone on the phone easily if you could get in touch with folks at HABC easily about events, leasing, owed balances – that sort of stuff," Null said.
WJZ has reached out to the housing authority of Baltimore City multiple times for comment. We have yet to hear back, but we continue to await their response.
