Keith and Christina Stroudt

Our names are Keith and Christina Stoudt, and we’ve lived in Baltimore Terrace in Hastings, MI for just over five years with our kids. One of us (Keith) works as a tank tester at a company that manufactures water heaters, and the other (Christina) takes care of our kids and lives with a disability. 

Baltimore Terrace was not too bad before. It was affordable, and people mostly kept to themselves. But recently the rents have almost doubled and they’ve added on fees for water, trash and administration on top of that. It is VERY hard. We hardly have any money ever, and it is impossible to save anything at all. We’ve cut out absolutely everything we could.

Now since a new manager for Homes of America came in, things have only gotten worse. He also issues us violations at every turn. I mow our grass at the medium setting to avoid scuffing the dirt, damaging the mower on tree roots, and scorching the grass in summer. He sends maintenance over to threaten to cut it down further, trim, and charge us $100. We can’t afford that. 

He yells at our kids and accuses them of things they didn’t do. He called me (Keith) an idiot and tried to pick a fight. He’s making us feel unsafe in our own house. Our 9- and 3-year-olds are scared to go outside if he’s around, and he only lives a few doors down.