Globe Mills (Sacramento: low income, section 8, apartment complex)

[bliss61]

I cannot begin to express the outrage I feel at the developers, CFY for grabbing addicted and mentally ill homeless people off the streets and giving them four walls, at the taxpayers expense, where they can go on using drugs and putting any sane low income senior at risk.
The addicts rule here...2 buildings on 12th and C and on 11th & C. There is a market loft building in between them and all tenants have a key to all the buildings. Now that was a brilliant idea.
Any sane person, who may have low income or is trying to rehabilitate should avoid this property or put their lives at risk.
There are armed drug dealers getting access to their "clients" , waltzing right past electronic front doors, video cameras and unarmed, untrained security guards.
Homeless people are found asleep in the laundry restrooms and in the community room on the 6th floor.
Several tenants, once in, begin to move in a friend or relative who may also be an addict. SO THE NEW ARRIVAL IS NOT REGISTERED WITH MANAGEMENT AND WE HAVE TO ASK WHO ARE YOU?
This is a HUD project; rents are subsidized. The developers have it made. Your tax dollars are being used, if the developer cannot collect full rent.
Some of the ugliest stories about how human beings live like animals and are condoned by Mayor Kevin Johnson (for not paying close attention).
The Sacramento Bee could easily do an expose. Once in, the drug smells and people reeling in the hallways and hundreds of police reports in less than a year would alert the public about the menace that Globe Mills is soon to return to it's former glory as a pile of rubble. It looked so much better than way. At least there were not innocent victims..like the mentally ill man who had never used drugs and after he moved into Globe Mills, he got addicted to Crack Cocaine by his neighbor, a semi-retired, low income drug dealer.
There is little or no real screening by management. There are ex-cons of all types.
There have been sporatic fights and other violent outbursts.
People on prescription marijuana bring back the bags and sell joints to other tenants to subsidize their incomes.
One woman, a street hooker and Globe Mills resident staggers around the building during mid day. Barely able to stand and looking close to death, she becomes the official greeter in the lobby.
There are 4 floors of apartments in two buildings. One of the real fears is fire from cooking dope or falling asleep with matches, candles, etc. There has been no fire drill to help people avoid getting trapped in the building. In one of the bathrooms, I saw a large burned hole in the countertop.
It is just a matter of time before someone is seriously hurt or killed. If someone does and you want to refer him/her to this site, I would participate in a class action lawsuit.
In the meanwhile, if your mother or father needs an affordable place to live, there must be a better place for them.
Huell Howser was "dupped" into going a show about this place and it is beautifully restored outside but the image is a lie.
The developers and manager are equally mentally ill with the tenants. It is a lunatic asylum.

[rcclifford]

You are so right and thank you for trying to save some people who really do not want to live with drug addicts and mentally ill people as part of the deal for low income, senior housing.
Recently, we visited Globe Mills to see if it would be suitable for our aging aunt.
First security: the front door was opened for us, from someone inside the front door with no questions asked and we expected to be asked our business or see a security person, as we entered about 8:00 P.M. It was too easy to gain access, so you are right. ANYONE can access the senior building on 11th and C.
Second the tenants (?): We were going up to the 6th floor to see the view and on the way, some interesting characters came into the elevator. Both had kind of a blank stare and blurry eyes and were tettering a bit. We asked if they lived in the building and they nodded. Each had to be at least 60.
That was enough for us. In that neighborhood, anything can happen and we would not recommend it.
Very sad really. The building is beautiful and as long time Sacramento residents, we would love to be proud of this re-development but the building and the people inside do not match.
Are these the only people without money. Is the government actually funding drug addicts?

[wburg]

They definitely should have taken the population into account when staffing the building. Having no access control and no in-house social services was probably unwise. Essentially, the building has become the equivalent of an SRO. Professionally-run buildings of this manner, even some of the SRO hotels, have door staff that must buzz in and check in visitors (some don't even allow visitors at all) and most senior housing has at least some modicum of connection to supportive services.

I have little doubt that the folks who moved into Globe Mills from the street are happier there than on the street. But if there are no support services, their happiness may be short-lived, and it obviously interferes with the happiness of others. A lot of those problems can be helped pretty simply--things as simple as an AA meeting or mental health support groups on site, or someone to knock on the door and visit people having problems. Living with mentally ill folks, or those with drug issues, is a lot less of a problem if those populations have support: problems can be headed off before they start. Ideally, some security element and some social service element can make such places a lot more liveable for everyone. Sadly that wasn't included in the Globe Mills project.

[exploitedsenior]

You sound like you know the facts.

Do you know the site: Crimereports.com? If you put in a zip code, you can see an area map with symbols of various crime activity. Yet, when I put in 95814, the zip code for Alkalai Flats/Globe Mills, it says no crime was reported for that area. This is nuts.

Loaves and fishes is 2 blocks from Globe Mills; the police are always stopping and arresting someone in that area all day. Not to mention the almbulance and fire department calls.

Maybe there are too many crimes to show up on the map? I am suspicious because of the kind of money that is being put into re-development; how scared away investors, renters, etc would become and is there a cover-up?

When I go to daily activity, I see one or two police calls in that neighborhood and that doesn't match what I have seen on the streets for the past nine months.

I have been endlessly researching the internet for police reports in that neighborhood and continue to come up with only a few or none.

I was specifically looking for a report that the manager of Globe Mills was beaten, when she attempted to evict a tenant. This is a true event and doesn't show up anywhere in the media or police reports or anywhere...

Suggestions for ways to find the truth, please

[wburg]

Try using the SacPD crime mapper tool:

Online Crime Mapping Disclaimer - Sacramento Police Department

Globe Mills is located in the Alkali Flat neighborhood.

[bliss61]

What is a SRO, please?

Is there a time period, when an addict needs to be clean, before they rent a HUD apartment? Do you know? I ask because it seems like everyone who lives here, who was referred by area rehab programs are all relapsed.

Some more really awful stories. One lady found dead in her apartment after 4 days. One lady found on the floor after 2 days, not able to call for help.

Unwrapped garbage, thrown down the shute 4 floors of apartments in 2 buildings has accumulated along the metal walls and now mice (+) coming into the building.

[wburg]

An SRO is a "single-room occupancy" hotel, or residential hotel. These used to be very common housing forms for all income levels, but in the mid-20th century they became more strictly housing for the very poor, either working poor, transients or the disabled on fixed incomes. Typically they were old hotels, some of which were built for nightly occupancy, but at some point switched over primarily to monthly occupancy. Most are in older buildings with shared bathroom and kitchen facilities. Sacramento used to have thousands of such rooms, now we have around 500, including a handful of "SRO replacement" housing like the comparatively well-run Pensione K. Management of SRO hotels ranges from utterly indifferent (these places make Globe look like a paradise) to pro-active (to avoid hassles and negative publicity, they make an effort to keep the place clean, kick out troublemakers and screen applicants.)

Drug addiction is not considered a disability by Social Security (it was until the mid-1990s, at which point everyone on SSI for drug addiction was cut off) nor is it a category of eligibility for HUD housing. It doesn't enter into HUD's calculations at all, nor is there any sort of official status for "addicts." Drug and alcohol treatment programs and other housing that offers support services can have a "clean and sober" requirement, but since Globe Mills is not a drug and alcohol treatment program they can't necessarily do that (any more than any apartment complex can prevent people from bringing a bottle of wine for dinner to their own apartment.)

Globe Mills is not directly owned or operated by HUD. HUD provides grants and monetary support for projects in return for low rents on the units, but other than income thresholds (you can't make over a certain amount and live in a HUD-subsidized apartment) there normally are not restrictions on who can live there (in this case, as senior housing, there are also age limits.) It is not the same thing as a Housing Choice Voucher (formerly known as a "Section 8 certificate.")

One other limitation about alcohol/drug restrictions in apartments: If a building has such limits, by law they must be universal limits. This means that if Globe Mills made its buildings "clean and sober," the yuppies renting the market-rate loft units would be prohibited from having alcohol in their apartments too.

[bliss61]

The amount of information you have is truly amazing and this discussion is getting more interesting and shedding a lot of light, from the truth you are providing.

So, if you don't mind:

Once someone has moved in and they exhibit drug related behavior, such as we already know, from medical and law enforcement research or they are arrested off the property for drug related issues or attempt to sell drugs to other tenants, how does management evict them? Is is hard, after the fact?

Who has the skills to manage such a project? Seems like someone needs to be a social worker, drug counselor and a lot more than a property manager.

There are several members of this staff who have been threatened for intervening in the "business" of addicts and their suppliers. That is the reason I previously stated I think his property is under the control of addicts and their suppliers.

Is there any liability on the part of the corporation? In other words, they know they are creating this environment, right and they expect to profit from it, right? If one of their staff is threatened, assaulted or worse, is the corporation liable?

Sorry to keep bugging you and I am ok...I can afford to move and I have been told to move by my doctor because of stress. I leave behind single women who were told by staff that to feel protected, they should own a knife or gun.

It's the image I bought and I was not alone. Some of us single women are over 60 and after a few tenant meetings, we shared thoughts of "what are we doing here? This isn't the way it was presented to us, when we signed the lease." I guess it was up to us to be better informed...could you please write a consumer booklet? I would help you market it.

By the way, rent here are not cheap..if you go by Globe Mills Craigslist ads. $650. is only $25.00 less than a one bedroom apartment in midtown or other safer neighborhood.

Thanks again.

[wburg]

Globe Mills has several income levels: some rooms are $350 a month (they filled up first) while others are $650. $650 is dirt cheap for a brand-new building in the central city--the going rate for "low income" apartments is closer to $900-1000 a month for 1-bedroom places.

Once someone has moved in and they exhibit drug related behavior, such as we already know, from medical and law enforcement research or they are arrested off the property for drug related issues or attempt to sell drugs to other tenants, how does management evict them? Is is hard, after the fact?

It works just like landlord/tenant law in any other apartment complex. Management can move to evict a tenant if they are causing a problem, but they have to base it on information they know for sure: not hearsay, not secondhand information, not suspicion, but facts. Being arrested off the property is not grounds to evict someone from housing.

Who has the skills to manage such a project? Seems like someone needs to be a social worker, drug counselor and a lot more than a property manager.

Some of the nonprofit low-income housing companies in town might be able to do so, but in order to operate in that environment at least part of the units have to become a "program" that provides supportive services. That generally means funding a case manager/social worker who is separate from the manager who manages the complex.

The property owners/management might be liable if it can be proved that they were aware of a situation and did nothing about it--but that can be difficult to prove. A lot of absentee landlords make an effort to not know what goes on in order to avoid being liable--they figure the less they know, the better. They only pay attention when money is involved: either expenses for them (repairs) or loss of income (vacancies.)

[bliss61]

You have been very generous with your time and information. I hope for the best outcome of this discussion, thanks to your information.

So in the end, we place our lives in the hands of people who we hope will act morally and in our best interest and if they do not, they are the ones with blood on their hands. A peaceful night's sleep will never come again; let us hope their children and grandchildren will forgive them.