Diana Ramos testifies on uninhabitable CityFHEPS apartment and transfer struggles
Diana Ramos of Safety Net Activists describes moving into an apartment with broken outlets, pests, refrigerator failure, plumbing problems, and mice. She says her transfer voucher is expiring and landlords do not want CityFHEPS because payments are late.
Thank you for allowing me to speak.
My name is Diana Ramos, and I'm with the Safety Net Activists membership group.
I had a set testimony going, but thinking about my experience with City FEPS started out with me going into an apartment that looked nice.
But truthfully, no, it's about half of my outlets don't work.
I have pests.
They had to replace my refrigerator within the first three days of me moving in.
Because a brand new refrigerator wasn't working, I lost $80 worth of food.
And, you know, that's the inspection process.
But then it's the process of I put in my renewal, I give you my new lease because I renew my city FEPS before I would renew my lease.
And then finding out that CityFaps wasn't paying the right amount because no one put the new lease amount into being paid.
It was a lot.
Having a call to ask a question, you wait.
Not knowing, you know, if they got everything they needed for your renewal, you wait.
You know, there is no data as to how long it takes.
I was not my job.
I was in shelter during COVID.
So, of course, everything took a little bit longer.
But, you know, people are waiting.
And right now I'm trying to transfer out.
out of that disgusting apartment that I live in because my bathroom barely works.
And there's just so many issues.
And I can't find a place because landlords don't want to take city FEPS because city FEPS is not paying them on time.
These, these, these,
three bills is just a start.
There's so much wrong that needs to be fixed.
And I sit here thinking, I'm supposed to, my transfer voucher is expiring.
I've had her for a year and I have yet found a place because I don't want to stay in the same neighborhood because it's dangerous for my safety.
And I want to move, but I can't because CityFaps has...
Screwed the pooch, for lack of better terming, with some of these landlords, and they don't want to take these vouchers.
And it's not just this voucher.
I don't understand how you have a program, but you don't know your data analysis, because if this was a business, we'd be bankrupt, completely bankrupt.
Thank you.