{"id":232,"date":"2017-04-26T21:44:07","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T21:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/?p=232"},"modified":"2017-05-24T16:26:31","modified_gmt":"2017-05-24T16:26:31","slug":"in-their-own-words-west-dallas-residents-forced-to-leave-their-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/2017\/04\/26\/in-their-own-words-west-dallas-residents-forced-to-leave-their-homes\/","title":{"rendered":"In Their Own Words: West Dallas Residents Forced To Leave Their Homes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>In West Dallas, new development and tougher city housing standards have forced\u00a0300 families living in HMK Ltd. homes to move out by June 3. These families pay as little as $300 a month in rent homes. The company says it it can\u2019t afford to fix up the houses to meet city code with rent that low. Now, residents who haven&#8217;t already left are faced with their next move, but many don&#8217;t know where to go.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022 The latest:<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/2017\/05\/24\/west-dallas-landlord-to-sell-homes-to-residents-judge-delays-eviction\/\" target=\"_blank\">Landlord offers to sell rental homes to longtime residents; judge extends move-out deadline<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\">Ashton Elder<\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong> \u2018Don&#8217;t take over. Come over and join us.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><!-- meta slider --><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; margin: 0 auto;\" class=\"metaslider metaslider-flex metaslider-236 ml-slider nav-hidden\">\n<div id=\"metaslider_container_236\">\n<div id=\"metaslider_236\" class=\"flexslider\">\n<ul class=\"slides\">\n<li style=\"display: block; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-234 ms-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2017\/04\/Elder-4-1000x800.jpg\" height=\"800\" width=\"1000\" alt=\"West Dallas\" class=\"slider-236 slide-234\" \/>\n<div class=\"caption-wrap\">\n<div class=\"caption\">Ashton Elder and her daughter outside their home in West Dallas. Photo\/Jessica Diaz-Hurtado<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-237 ms-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2017\/04\/Elder-2-1000x800.jpg\" height=\"800\" width=\"1000\" alt=\"West Dallas\" class=\"slider-236 slide-237\" \/>\n<div class=\"caption-wrap\">\n<div class=\"caption\">Elder lives in a rental home owned by HMK Ltd slated to close by summer. Photo\/Jessica Diaz-Hurtado<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>    <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n        var metaslider_236 = function($) {\n            $('#metaslider_236').flexslider({ \n                slideshowSpeed:3000,\n                animation:\"fade\",\n                controlNav:false,\n                directionNav:true,\n                pauseOnHover:true,\n                direction:\"horizontal\",\n                reverse:false,\n                animationSpeed:600,\n                prevText:\"&lt;\",\n                nextText:\"&gt;\",\n                slideshow:false\n            });\n        };\n        var timer_metaslider_236 = function() {\n            var slider = !window.jQuery ? window.setTimeout(timer_metaslider_236, 100) : !jQuery.isReady ? window.setTimeout(timer_metaslider_236, 1) : metaslider_236(window.jQuery);\n        };\n        timer_metaslider_236();\n    <\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/\/ meta slider--><\/p>\n<p><em>Ashton Elder, 30, has been a resident of West Dallas her whole life. She has four children: three daughters and a son. Before moving into a HMK-owned home, the family was staying on couches. Now, they\u00a0face an uncertain housing situation again.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I had my own apartment, but I lost my apartment due to an issue. So it was like, I was sleeping on the couch with my kids. It went from staying in our own four-bedroom townhome for 13 years to sleeping on the couch and on people\u2019s floors for like a year and a half, and I couldn\u2019t deal with it anymore. I just, me and my kids needed somewhere to stay, so I do appreciate HMK, I\u2019m not gonna lie; they\u2019ve been very helpful.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been in an HMK home going on for about three years now. Back in March, the 29th, I actually got my keys. The day of my son\u2019s birthday and that was his birthday gift \u2014 we was moving. My house doesn\u2019t look as bad as the other homes. I have a two-bedroom with a den. I turned the den into a living room and one room into a room. So I made it to a three-bedroom.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not knocking the changes they are doing, because there\u2019s nothing wrong with improvement. I just feel like, me personally, I think it\u2019s wrong that they\u2019re trying to kick us out and take over. Don\u2019t take over, come over and join us. We look out for each other. Sister Ida is across the street, she\u2019s sweet. Mr. Robert, I love Mr. Robert, if he sees I need help, he comes and helps me.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s just the community, the environment within itself is a caring and loving environment. I would hate to go and try and find the same love in another area and can\u2019t find it. So, to me West Dallas is love. I love my hood. I love West Dallas, I really, really do. Honestly.<\/p>\n<h6 style=\"text-align: center;\">Voices: Ashton Elder<\/h6>\n<p><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]--><br \/>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-232-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2017\/04\/11422_OCAVoices1.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2017\/04\/11422_OCAVoices1.mp3\">http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2017\/04\/11422_OCAVoices1.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/people\/499155528\/jessica-diaz-hurtado\">Jessica Diaz- Hurtado<\/a>\u00a0is an NPR Kroc Fellow. As part of her fellowship, she\u2019s spending several months reporting at KERA.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In West Dallas, new development and tougher city housing standards&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":238,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[11,15,12,9,10,8],"class_list":["post-232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-one-crisis-away-no-place-to-go","tag-affordable-housing","tag-gentrification","tag-hmk-ltd","tag-one-crisis-away","tag-poverty","tag-west-dallas","byline-jessica-diaz-hurtado"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":546,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions\/546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}