Slum Lord Negligence Forces 75 Year Old Bronx Woman With Heart Failure Out of Her Apartment

Clarice White-Gathers, 75, suffers from heart failure and now finds herself homeless and sleeping on a friend’s couch thanks to the slumlords who run her building.

For years they’ve neglected to repair leaky pipes which have been wreaking havoc on her apartment’s ceilings until recently when they collapsed forcing the city to declare the apartment uninhabitable.

Meanwhile the scum (yes, we’re not mincing words because slumlords are the scum of the earth) are living large in a $3 million mansion on Long Island’s ritzy North Shore with dozens of luxury cars parked in their driveways according to an article in the New York Post.

The Post reports:

“This is the worst, worst it has ever been,” Clarice White-Gathers said of her 159th Street apartment. “I feel like I’m abandoned, I’m homeless. Why isn’t there someone to help?”

For years, a leaky pipe has been turning the ceiling of her first-floor one-bedroom unit to mush. Then, a little over a week ago, everything came crashing down.

First it was the bathroom ceiling on July 22, leaving a gaping hole above her shower. Then the living-room ceiling gave way Wednesday, crashing down on a Post reporter’s shoulder just inches from her head.

Now a gash along the ceiling exposes floor joists that White-Gathers says have mold. And her doctor at New York–Presbyterian Hospital says the mold is worsening the obstructive pulmonary disease that’s struck her lungs.

No one should ever have to live like this and landlords should lose their properties if they can’t maintain them.

Facebook Comments
Ed García Conde

Ed García Conde is a life-long Bronxite who spends his time documenting the people, places, and things that make the borough a special place in the hopes of dispelling the negative stereotypes associated with The Bronx. His writings are often cited by mainstream media and is often consulted for his expertise on the borough's rich history.