Mom begs for help

Dick and her family including daughter Vanessa Germia, 20, who is three months pregnant, live under a tent in the car park at the HDC’s housing development in Harmony Hall, Gasparillo.

They were among 25 families evicted recently by the HDC from the complex which was abandoned months ago after being deemed structurally unsafe for human habitation.

“I have nowhere to go. If I did, you think I would have my children exposed to the element and bandits? I have no other choice but to live under this tent,” Dick said yesterday.

In 2010, Dick was a legal tenant in Building Two, Apartment Seven paying $1,050 per month. The apartment was given to her in April 2010 by then PNM Minister of State Tina Grunland-Nunez following a Newsday article that highlighted her plight of being homeless after she was abandoned by a male relative.

Over the years, conditions at the apartment deteriorated despite several complaints to the HDC. One of the issues she had was leaking sewer lines. Last year, Dick said, she became so fed up that she moved into an apartment in the condemned HDC complex, where she lived until being evicted weeks ago.

“I don’t know who can help me, I am pleading for a place to live.

My son Akeem is the breadwinner, he is a security guard and because of the situation only works at nights. He is only 18,” Dick said.