Local Family Evicted By Landlord – An Open Letter To The Community

Writing_letterDear Lakewood Scoop,
Thanks for being the vehicle in spreading this message. There is a family in town with eight children; the mother is currently expecting the ninth child. They have come upon hard times and the father is out of a job. As they were unable to pay their rent, they were evicted from their home by their non-frum landlord a few weeks ago.

Since then, they have been living in one room in a shelter in Seaside Heights, NJ.  Not one bedroom, but one room total. The children have to be brought to Lakewood each morning to get to school and their entire family life has been disrupted causing the children tremendous trauma.  The proximity to the beach at this time of year poses a tremendous spiritual danger as well. Each day that they remain in this situation causes further damage to their emotional and physical health.  

Askonim are involved with this situation and have tried to find alternate living arrangements for them, but they have been turned away due to the size of the family.

We are appealing to the Lakewood community and requesting that if anyone knows of an available house that would be suitable for this size family, please get in touch with [email protected]. Rent will be guaranteed by a number of askonim.

Thanks for caring.

A concerned Yid

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38 COMMENTS

  1. i hate to be the first to comment, but if rent is going to be guaranteed by a number of askonim

    Where were they before they were eveicted?

    It takes a very long time to evicte someone. ( i should know), where were they then. why wait till it happens.

    Good luck & G-D bless. i hope theyfind something soon. I will pray for them.

  2. this town has a lot of work to do to create real financial opportunity. this is not the only family sufferng. lakewood is bankrupt.

  3. If rent is guaranteed by a number of askonim, as you say, so just pick any basement – there’s more than enough of them empty with four bedrooms….

  4. plenty of homes. and alts for rent. just open up the mass umatan. something doesn’t sound right if its as the article says that the rent be be guaranteed. tons of places. to rent just look and you will find

  5. To #9- Perhaps the status of the landlord is mentioned so that the commenters shouldn’t say “how could someone frum evict a family of 8 children”

  6. The story is genuinely heart breaking. Seaside Heights of all places? However, despite the sadness of the family, maybe the landlord is also sufffering and after months of not being paid is not able to carry the mortgage. Why assume that he is heartless?

  7. thats no way to raise a family , these children are going to suffer . dont they have any relatives that could lend a helping hand ?

  8. I know many frumma who work as rent managers and its common practice to evict people if they don’t pay rent. why would frum or not frum make a difference.

  9. I Do not get it i would help out if this story made more sense!!!!
    There are houses for rent all over lakewood and if money is not a issue bec. of guaranteed askonim so Just call these numbers and book it.

    But from the fact that Hillel the person wrighting this letter only answerd #6 who offered money and noyone els got a reply of explanations it confusses ppl. and some like myself would really help but i need a clearer picture

  10. To #16
    Sorry if the picture is not clear. I prefer not to give additional details online. You can email me with your number and I’ll be happy to clarify whatever requires clarification- and let you know what you can do to help this family.

  11. which askonim are involved? who cares how big the place is – why can’t four bedrooms do, if they are stuck in seaside?

  12. It is very hard to be a landlord. If my tenants don’t pay their rent, i can’t pay my mortgage and I can lose my house, then what’ll happen to me? I’ll also be homeless. Apparently these people are being evicted for non payment of rent, but why were they place in Seaside Heights and not somewhere in Lakeood? Aren’t there emergency HUD funds to help such people?

  13. I would also like to donate something, bli neder, if you can post a letter from a Rav or something to prove it is a true story. I am sure if they are living in such cramped corners they have other financial needs as well.

  14. Sad story. I also don’t understand why, with all the property owners in the community, emergency accomodations couldn’t be found for them in Lakewood. This is a case of pikuach nefesh. Where are all the real estate “moguls”, tutzichs and handlers? One of them has to have somewhere this family can live, even if it’s only temporarily.

  15. although lakewood is b’h a place of lots of chesed. something that i see in its askonus over and over which extremely bothers me is how often do i see situations that reach a severe level of pikuach nefesh such as this story which could have been prevented had there been proper gomlai chesed intervene when needed.
    why is it that one must fall rock bottom n take a real embarrassing hit in order to get help?
    if you see someone struggling to stand on his feet or trying to make progress whether its medical , physical,psychological,financial or even spiritually, why wait till its a real serious matzov?
    being matzil a nefesh is the biggest mitzvah/chesed one can do. but preventing is even greater than curing.
    by no means do i intend on pointing any fingers.
    but perhaps a situation like this one is a wakeup call.
    if you see a friend starting to get sick do you have to wait till he is a code1 to call hatzolah ?
    perhaps thats the difference between rachmanus and v’ahavta l’raiacha k’mocha.
    pls dont take this as rebuke or criticism, just a friendly insight on how we all can improve our true gemilas chesed as hashem expects from us.
    thanks for listening and thanks for understanding.

  16. Maybe the askanim shouldve gotten involved before! My brotherin law had a tenant that didnt pay rent for a year, no one wanted to get involved. Then when he said he’ll sell the house just to get rid of it (and take a loss in the rent – almost 20k)….the askanim were jumping up and down, telling him ‘how to handle it’ Why should the landlord loose out???

  17. to # 19 the county social services usually put people up in areas where there are seasonal rentals, how long ago was that family put there?????

  18. it’s always funny when my posts don’t get posted because I post something that reflects when the shoe is on the other foot … Freedom of speech!
    Would this be an issue if the landlord was frum and the tennant was not?

  19. Funny how there are always some people looking to post silly comments. The only issue here is that there is a family suffering and we as Yidden should have a feeling of rachmanus. The poster didn’t ask for $ – all they asked was that they be contacted if someone knew of a suitable house. Obviously all those listed in the masa umatan didn’t agree to take this family.

  20. i know reb hillel ver well i was he chavrusa he helps out a alot of ppl he colects for a number of familys in isreal and does not deserv such silly comment this is not a blog if u cant controll ur sillyness then find som1 else to bother if it was u that got evicted he have no bounds to help u y the negetivty again if u wud can hekp in any way pls feel free to contact hillel hes email is [email protected] and ty for understanding

  21. As bad as I feel for this family I can’t say that the landlord is cruel and heartless as some of you are saying. Do you know how many frum landlords put out non frum people. That doesn’t make the scoop. Do you know how many people live in hotels because they can not afford anything else. Maybe its time everyone started helping everyone and not just who is in there religion, race or whatever. Again I feel for this family but the landlord was doing what he had to do. Maybe he couldn’t afford to pay the mortgage on that house and his own.

  22. why is my post STILL waiting for moderation? I didnt say anything in there that is not true. Post it TLS, you have no legal right to infringe upon my First Amendment rights as an American citizen.

  23. #35 it took me a second to realize what you were trying to say. You are right, it’s not American, It’s Lakewood!

    #36 Wrong… Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship It is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and by many state constitutions and state and federal laws. This does NOT mean freedom to be censored because the comments may offend someone.

  24. I spoke with a retired asst. of a county welfare board in NJ and was told based on the above infor. that the family could and should apply for assistance located in Toms River, I believe. Certainly, some money, food stamps and medical costs would be provided as a start.

    I also told a number of frum friends of mine and people in Lakewood I hardly knew, of the above family’s situation and requested their help—whether directly or whatever—surely the Lakewood (Jewish) community will help !!!!

    I’m well prepared to give some money (not enough, unfortunately) to help—-provided the need is real, immediate and verifiable. B’vah’kah’chah, can someone address my requests as to whom I can give the help( money and other types of help) so I can verify thru my OWN sources the character of the person(s), org(s).

    Lastly, a continuing effort be made to support the family’s needs and to help the father/husband find work

    PLease, do so immediately—I’ll watch the web site.

    A GOY,
    Gerry Mullen

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