Low-Income Housing Without the Low-Income Housing Price
We were paying $1580 to live exactly 1.62 miles from West Valley Detention Center. Victoria Woods originally got me in their leasing office by advertising a three-bedroom apartment for $1300. When I signed my notice that I would move in the apartment, they told me I would have to give them a $100 holding fee and sign the agreement. They didn't mention the fine print of the agreement. If I backed out of the apartment, I wouldn't just loose the $100, I would wind up paying a little more than $2000 not to move into their apartments. However, they could back out of the agreement. They failed to mention the proximity to the jail or that we would have to pay an extra fee for water and gas until the day that we signed the lease. They promised us new appliances. In reality, they spray painted the stove and the dishwasher was really old and never worked. I don't consider the community good for families. Within my first month here, my kids were jumped on their way home from school by kids who still reside there. I never let my kids go outside again or take the bus. Actually, they can't take the bus anymore because the district stopped providing transportation and some of the schools are quite a distance.
Victoria Woods goes back on their agreements. We had to pay water & trash there. Our lease stated that Victoria Woods would pay 25% of the water bill. Then in the middle of our lease they sent us a notice that our water & trash bill would increase because they were only going to pay 5% of the water & trash bill. In most companies, if you overpay your bill you get a credit. I gave them more than the sum of my rent, water, and trash. I didn't get a credit. They kept my money. When I called to ask why, they said it messes up their accounting to give me back my money so they just kept it. I told them if I paid them a couple of dollars less than what my rent and water was, they would send me a three day or quit notice. They agreed and said that's just the way it is. I heard that there were some residents had mice. I have also seen roaches. There was a roach running across the window area the first day that we moved into the apartments.
I guess the kids did something in the pool area. To get back at the kids, they started locking the bathrooms after they would leave for the day. As a result, everyone was pissing in the pool. They also told me that they were going to make the gym 24 hours, but of course that never happened either.
During the time that I live there, my truck was messed with on five different occasions. The weather stripping was ruined because someone tried to break into my truck. Someone stole my entire tailgate. My side-view mirror was broken and the lock on the passenger side of the truck was ruined when somebody tried to pick the lock. My hubcaps were also stolen. The security companies are always changing and they all suck. They harass people for stupid stuff and never catch the real criminals.
Parking was a joke. If you get home past 8:00 you can look forward to waiting at least an hour to find a parking spot. We've had to drive around and wait for hours for a spot to open up on the other side of the complex.
The living conditions were similar to low-income housing conditions without the benefit of having the low-income housing price.
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