Ar-Ray of Hope, Inc.
Bi​ography​​
“I was sexually abused as an infant. The relative who committed this act confirmed it and told me everything that happened behind the house and in the back room. I needed to go on with my life because he was in recovery. This confession from this relative confirmed all the reoccurring dreams I had, which tormented me. I still have to cast down in my mind and life.
When I was 4 years old, I confronted this same relative as he was sexually abusing my brother on the green couch in the living room of my parents’ home. This relative was in college at this time. When I stopped him, he did something to me. I was also abused by my immediate family as a child.
I have always been an advocate since I could remember. My husband slapped me to the floor, and I had a stillborn son after the incident. In 1992, my husband abandoned me while I was 4-month pregnant with our son. Our 2-year-old and 4-year-old daughters was with me at the time. We had to find another place to live. I found out he was abusing my children after he left.
I moved to Oakland in December 1993 to get away from my husband. We later came back to Los Angeles, California due to immediate housing on January 14, 1994, the same day of the earthquake. We were in a motel during the earthquake. We found an apartment in Hollywood. It was a studio apartment for four people. It was too small but was sufficient.
In September 1994, my children and I experienced a terrible situation where we moved to an apartment above a garage in Los Angeles. The same day we moved in, the house in front of the property accommodated several homeless people in three-bedroom unit, which collapsed somehow from the earthquake that occurred in January of the same year.
The tenants were not able to get out of the house. The door was jammed shut, and the manager took several hours to come and assist them. This catastrophe left my three small children and I without gas for months until the city and the construction builders repaired the home and its foundation. This meant I could not cook on the stove until they were finished.
We had a microwave and hot plate to cook on, but there’s no hot water. This all happened during the El Niño season with rainy storms in Los Angeles. Flooding and rain occurred daily for weeks.
I had to walk in the flooded streets with my three small kids to take my oldest daughter to school during her 2nd grade. We could not take a shower because the foundation/floor of the shower was cracked. The water would leak down to the stairs of the front entrance. Someone could slip and fall.
A sister from another church I attended bought us a #3 tin tub to take a bath in. My three children were able to fit in this tub. I tried too, but of course, I could not. At the same time, we had a toilet that was stopped up from October to December 1994.
A plumber was never sent over by the manager or landlords to unstop the toilet. I was told by those in social services to call the Health Department, but I was too afraid to do so. I feared retaliation and not having a place to go. We were able to take a real bath in a tub in December 1994. I promised myself that I would never let another woman or child not be able to take a bath.
I sat in that bathtub where I could stretch out my legs and scrub my body from head to toe with a product from Caress, which was a gift from Linda. She was a sister from church. I was supposed to write the Caress company. I wanted to thank them for creating such products that make you feel like a special person and not a forsaken being who doesn’t exist.
I changed the locks on the door because it was not working. We had a shoe box for a mailbox, which was located on the front porch of the house. The house up front had the only mailbox. We eventually moved because the owner stated that the fire department had condemned the apartment prior to my children and I moving in. The managers should not have moved us in there.
The owner received the rent all those months and never complained nor informed us about this code violation. We were just happy to have a place to live. The utilities were charged to us because the front house was vacant. The construction guys, the city, and all the vendors were using the electricity. My electric bill was approximately over $500 to $700. I felt as though I was living in a third-world country in Los Angeles.
No one could help us. I did not have section 8 nor could I receive any assistance from the housing department. After this situation, I left California and move to Oklahoma because of all the injustice. I wanted to get away from my husband too. I could not cash a check, so I came back to Los Angeles. My ex-husband picked us up from the bus station and dropped us off at the Union Station.
The singer, Denise Williams, saw us and put us up in a hotel next to the station. She assisted us by calling a church, which sent us to a shelter. We came back because I had no choice. Later, I found a larger studio apartment to move in to. We were there for a while. In July 1995, we moved to Orange County where we stay in a two-bedroom unit at a cheaper rental fee. We lived in Orange County for 9 years (finally stability).
I never allowed my husband to take my children alone with him since we separated in 1992. But during our divorce, he had a court order to visit and take the children to his home, which was an hour and a half away. When one of my children returned home, he started behaving strangely. Social services wouldn’t help.
One doctor reported the suspected abuse, and another doctor asked me if I thought my child was abused. The next day, the doctor’s report could not be found anywhere. I worked at the Department of Social Services as a supervisor for the welfare and handled programs from 2000 to 2003.
I tried to transfer to another job that needed a bilingual person (a total misunderstanding). But I was not hired for this position. I was very disappointed. We were evicted and had to move. My kids and I struggled after moving so much for more than 27 years. We were stable in Orange County. But after moving to Los Angeles, the struggle began again.
I moved back to Los Angeles and was evicted again due to my job situation with a temp agency (my assignment was complete). We had two cars repossessed and bought an old Cadillac. We lived in a vehicle and in motels. We also stayed with a church friend for 2 weeks, and we lived in another church friend’s shelter/duplex. My children and I were able to give toys to a foster family while living in this shelter.
A troubling situation was brought to my attention in the middle of the night, which caused me not to sleep. Two women who lived in this shelter was abusing their children sexually. I told the church member/director about it, and she said that she didn’t want them to lose their children. So, we left and moved to another motel out of fear. Another church member, who was friends with the director, followed us to the motel.
We were victims (tenants) who were abused by realtors, landlords, and church members. They rented a converted garage/apartment for us when it was illegal to do so. It has a pad lock, and they locked us out by jamming the lock. This same lady. an elder/pastor and auxiliary director, was the one who brought us in the garage while we were at a family reunion in Orange County without my permission.
I told the Pastor about what this member did, and he didn’t believe. She then threw out all of the furniture and trashed the garage. She also took pictures and emailed them to the neighbors and members of my church. The dampness of this garage caused my children and me to have burns on our bodies.
There’s leaking plumbing, peeling plasters, molds, and missing smoke detectors. My kids have asthma due to not having ventilation in this garage. My children had to have therapy over the cats that were skinned/killed. The cats’ blood was all over the front
door of the garage. The realtor/church member went in to inspect the garage without me being there, and some of my belongings were missing.
Mold was located under the bathroom sink and floorboard. My children and I heard a camera turning in the garage unit, but we could not find it. We all could not have been hearing things or paranoid at the same time.
The neighbors next door were drug dealers, and they had a camera installed outside where they could see anyone approaching their home at all times. They were good friends, and they smoked marijuana with the realtor’s husband. I was taken to the court because the church member/realtor stated that I did not pay the rent.
I left the hospital after having a blood transfusion, and I had the receipt to present to the judge. The Judge asked this manager why she brought me to the court. Lawyers asked me to take this realtor to the court, but I did not because of my fear of retaliation. Both of my cars. My BMW was destroyed with water in the gas tank, while my Mercedes had something in the gas tank.
White shoe polish was smeared all over my car. It has a writing with gang letters written all over it. The gas tank was pried open. The police stated that gang members generally do not write in this fashion. If they wanted to stop me from going anywhere, they would slash tires and break the windows of the car.
On another occasion, the realtor and her husband followed us as we walked to our car on foot. We hide our car around the corner, so they could not find and vandalize it again. A precious family from the church allowed us to sleep overnight at times and take showers. They brought food to the garage.
I have the police report about all these incidents, including the last incident where the pad lock was jammed. We could no longer enter the garage/unit. The police asked me to get a bolt cutter, but it did not work. My three children tried to open the door, and I had to call a locksmith to open it.
In September 2006, we just left and stayed in a motel until we found a nice two-bedroom apartment. We had to fight for it. We pay the apartment rental in October 2006, but we did not move in until the day after the Thanksgiving. I do not want to be a victim all of my life. I do not want to say I assisted all of the abandoned women and children, but I did not help myself.”
Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for Foster Kids
“We were victims (tenants) of abuse committed by realtors/landlords who are managing our homes. I had suffered at the hands of slumlords before, not insinuating that they were one in any way. One of them just stopped taking care of the manager’s duties, and I felt that he had abandoned the property. I just felt that I should have been treated a little differently as a tenant and a faithful employee.
He stated that he would assist me in finding a place to live, but this promise never happened either. I paid the utilities (gas, electricity, and water) for an unregistered dwelling of a family that resided in the back unit (converted garage). I found out that the house that I was renting was not registered with the City of Palmdale for rent.
I would not have mind doing this for the broker/employer because of my loyalty, but they started treating me unfairly. I only received a reimbursement of $200 from the landlord regarding this matter from April to December 2009. The broker/employer never came over for the maintenance. I was not satisfied with the results and the lack of
concern that the broker/employer had for me and my children.
The next day, the glass company called. The broker/employer stated that he would
have to ask the owner to inquire what she wanted to do about paying for the window. I should not have been responsible for any damages of a burglary and any rekeying for the safety of securing my home.
I never received keys for the front bolt lock, the side door that was burglarized, and the back door before moving in on April 4, 2008. The night my children arrived in a U-Haul, we could not reach the broker/employer until 12:00 PM the next day. We were out in the cold in front of the house, waiting for his phone call.
I recalled that on one occasion, the broker/employer told me he cleaned my flash drive. I noticed that some of my documents were missing. In 2009, he asked me if I would like to have coffee. We met and had coffee and cake.
The broker/employer said that he usually had his lawyers respond to other people that he received letters from, but he wanted to look me in my eyes and tell me not to do this (meaning not to take him to the court). I was very intimidated and threatened by this remark. He knew how afraid I was of him and how intimidated I am by his wife’s retaliations.
Once again, I felt very intimidated and discriminated by blowing the whistle on this person. In addition, at the request of the lawyers, I paid the utility bills for the unpermitted dwelling from April to December 2009.
My deposit of $900 (paid by Beyond Shelter in March 2008) was sufficient payment for October 1, 2009 to December 1, 2009. This was in addition to the partial payment of the rent owed for October to December 2009. Under the law, I should not have been forced to share the same mailbox with the other tenants in the other illegal dwelling. I was entitled to have a private mailbox.
I was promised that a separate mail box would be provided by the property manager (my employer as well). After no results and conversations, the post office told me that it was only on the address that was a part of the county tax assessors. I had to travel 63 miles to get my mail since May 2009. This has delayed supplemental income that I was entitled too.
My employment was dissolved and downsized. It was a move to manipulate me and get me not to follow through with any legal proceedings and not to report this information to the fair employment and fair housing department. I was living in an illegal dwelling for a year and half.
On December 15, 2009, I received an email at 1:30 PM from the broker/employer, stating that he could not accommodate my request. He asked me and not to contact him anymore. I was very disappointed and intimidated once again. The gas company changed the information, and I was finally able to enter the property on January 20, 2010.
I had information regarding a business opportunity, which he had asked me to get for him regarding a radio station advertisement in Inglewood, California. I thought the broker/manager would care enough to help their friends. I called him on December 12, 2009 (Saturday) and told him the present status of the Smith’s, but he never returned the phone call.
Since he asked me not to contact him anymore, I complied with his request. The documents I requested to be sent to me by the broker and manager of the property include:
1) My daughters college essays
2) Church documents
3) Corporation documents for my organization
4) Personal IRS forms for my corporation
5) All employment documents signed by me on the first day hired June 2008. 6) Rental agreement for tenancy in March 2008.
7) Any other items that belonged to me (hard copy and computerized time sheets etc.).
8) My last paycheck stub (I requested via email February 20, 2009 from Jessica) I never received it.
9) Please provide adequate accommodations (computer) for your staff especially for your new assistant that house’s all of your in Office information.
10) Plumbing corrected for new tenants at 937 E. Avenue Q6 in Palmdale (back flow problem that occurred several times that ruined the carpet that Broker /Employer did not replace for me and my family) Broker /Employer told me that this problem occurred before I moved in. Broker /Employer never cleaned up the feces and urine outside, so to keep from smelling the atrocious smell.
Broker brought me the shovel, bucket and push broom over so that I could clean it up. This is just one of the many things that I tolerated and did not complain, but it did not make it right. This plumbing situation has occurred since:
January 16, 2007 (Toilet stoppage), March 1, 2007 (Pipe leakage), August 4, 2008 (Toilet Stoppage), December 16, 2008 (Mainline valve), January 14, 2009 (Mainline stoppage), June 24, 2009 (Toilet Stoppage), August 17, 2009 (Toilet Stoppage), November 6, 2009 (Toilet Stoppage), August 14, 2010 (Toilet issue again).
Tenants also are responsible for paying $55.00 to Old Republic Warranty for their rental
units.
11) Make sure the face bowl in the bathroom is attached correctly, never sent anyone over to fix it for me, and Broker said, “I must have been taken a lot of showers”, jokingly. I did not find this amusing, due to the face bowl was off detached from the wall where silicone was sealing it to the drywall.
12) Replace door in the kitchen area for the next tenant of 937 E. Ave. Q6.
13) Both dwellings Registered with City of Palmdale if you are renting.
14) Separate meters and mail box if renting property.
15) That all retaliation, harassing phone calls cease through my voicemail.
16) Make sure companies voicemail is set to assist potential employer references and housing references at Realty. (not 22 rings)
17) Remove both of my email accounts from your outlook and SBC account.
18) Resolve everything between previous tenants and current tenants in the community.
19) A recommendation letter that you promised 3 times, Broker’s suggestion. The items that I am requesting that you pay for are: Lock’s invoice’s (the book keeper stated that this invoice was paid October 6, 2010) · Glass company (the book keeper stated that this invoice was paid October 6, 2010) · (call for invoice)
Trees that fell due to the snow storm (the book keeper stated that this invoice was paid by Broker /Employer before my request). *”