TAMPA, Fla. — Just hours before the new year, people who live out at Holly Court Apartments in Tampa say they were greeted with mass eviction notices and non-lease renewals from their property management.
Renters were given one month to find a new home, and get out.
On Thursday, protestors gathered outside of the apartments to demand more time from the ownership company, Palm Communities, LLC.
“Just give us more time,” said Ernest Nelson Jr., who received one of the notices. “We’ll get out your place.”
Nelson said he always paid his rent and considered himself to be a “model” tenant.
The notices don’t give residents a reason why they are being told to leave but say they need to “vacate the premises” by noon on Jan. 31, 2022.
Nelson says he needs a place that is handicap accessible, affordable and permits him to have his service dog. He says one month just isn’t enough time to find that.
“It was cold-blooded,” he said.
Mya Lee is a stay at home mom who has a two-year-old and a two-month-old. Right now, she doesn’t know where they’ll be living.
“I have no idea,” she said. “I’ve been looking on Craigslist and Facebook market, but nowadays, everybody’s scamming.”
That’s why tenants unions on both sides of the bay held demonstrations on Thursday to fight for affordable housing in an increasingly unforgivable market.
“Based on my fixed income, what am I gonna do,” Nelson questioned. “I have no idea.”
10 Tampa Bay reached out to Palm Communities LLC, the company that manages the property, but we still haven’t heard back.