By Deborah Goonan, Independent American Communities
Here’s another example of a dilapidated condominium, this one in Fort Myers, Florida.
Pass this video report from WINK News to your friends and family who still believe that all condos are luxurious, and only for the very wealthy. The truth is, many condo complexes are like Banyan Tree – relatively cheap construction, at least 30 years old, run down and falling apart, and inhabited mostly by tenants or owners who have lost so much money on their units that they cannot afford to sell.
Chances are, just about every city or town in America has a condo complex that you think of as affordable or low-income apartments. But instead of a single landlord owner, each condo unit may have a separate owner. And those owners have to agree on how to best maintain the complex and share the costs. Quite often, espeically with low-end housing, owners want to spend as little money as possible for upkeep.
Sometimes one person will own most or even all of the units within the same complex, and lease all of them to tenants. Low-income tenants often end up at worn out, even unsafe condominiums, simply because there is a severe shortage of public housing with affordable rent. And there are not enough private landlords wiling to accept government rent subsidies.
This is every American city or town’s dirty little secret. Untold number of residents stuck in housing that does not meet standards for health and safety, that they can never hope to afford to repair, just waiting for the day that they will be evacuated when their multifamily building is condemned.
And where will they go? Very likely, to another apartment or condo that’s also in bad shape.
The following report shows the condo owner (the report does not mention the name of the owner) making long overdue repairs, but you get the sense that it may be too little and too late.
The main point is that condos are not just for the rich and famous.
Repairs begin on Fort Myers condos in ruins
http://www.winknews.com/2016/03/03/repairs-begin-on-fort-myers-condos-in-ruins/