Displaced Family not allowed to return home

by: Jason Springer

Tue Aug 15, 2006 at 03:13:51 PM EDT

A family who had to leave their home following a fire has been told they are not allowed to return...

Management of the Millstream Apartments has blocked the two adults and four children from returning to the three-bedroom unit damaged by the blaze. Perhaps most disturbing for the family that moved to the township from Newark, N.J. in 2005 looking for a better life, Millstream has refused to tell them why.

So why you may ask, is this family of 6 not allowed to return to their home? Well Nicole Washington and her partner Lauren Johnson believe it is because of who they are and the lifestyle the lead.

Lauren Johnson, feels that discrimination at more than one level is at play since the couple leads an alternative lifestyle and is black.

The couple was first told the apartment would be ready in 3-6 months, but now the company says...

A district manager for Millstream's parent company Conifer Realty LLC, told the Times that her company's decision was based on information from the police investigation into the fire. She later declined to elaborate.

Something doesn't add up here and the thing that bothered me the most by the article is the company offered the family a 1 bedroom apartment in Camden. This from a 3 bedroom in Washington Township, are you kidding me?

Jason Springer :: Displaced Family not allowed to return home

Tags: glbt, lesbian, Washington Township, (All Tags)

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Displaced Family not allowed to return home | 1 comments

alternative lifestyle (4.00 / 1)

Somebody that lives in the area where this paper is published needs to call them out on their use of the term "alternative lifestyle." It's an obsolete term.

This is an odd article. It doesn't even seem like the reporter spoke to the landlord, or tried to. They are just quoting the tenants. There might be a lot more to this story than appears at first glance. It all just seems to be pure speculation and broad allegations w/out anything to back it up.

The Camden thing is a little weird, but there may be a lot of other things at play here. Maybe they were just bad tenants and the landlord is using this as an opportunity to oust them. It seems like this may be posturing on both sides for eventual litigation?

by: morrisdem @ Tue Aug 15, 2006 at 19:39:38 PM UTC