NBC4 Feature story: The Eviction of the Riverview International Center and many New American families
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Dozens in a Columbus neighborhood are not sure where they are going to live after some received eviction notices from the new property owner and others have gotten word they’ll need to be out later this spring.
They live on Riverview Drive which is right next to NBC4’s studios. The Riverview International Center (RIC) is a non-profit that helps many of the tenants and is a sponsor of the Mid-Ohio Farm at NBC4. Eighty-eight apartments will be affected by this, according to RIC. Some house single tenants while others house entire families.
Emelia Sheeley, RIC executive director, and Riverview Drive resident, Mohamed Benghezala, talk with NBC reporter Eric Halperin about the upcoming evictions.
Activities for families, walkability to a mosque and RIC, and affordability are all reasons many decide to live on Riverview Drive.
“These are my people, I have lived here for two years. I know her, I know everybody here, they know me,” Mohamed Benghezala said.
Benghezala moved to Columbus, specifically to his family’s apartment on Riverview, from Algeria. He said the new owners of the building he lives in and others on Riverview have told him he’ll need to be out later this season.
“My daughter last night she was crying, every night, when she hears something like this it’s complicated,” Benghezala said.
The neighborhood is home for a lot of new Americans, immigrants and refugees. RIC, which said it will also need to move, works to support its neighbors.
“If you immigrate you have to meet a whole new group of people and in Riverview a lot of people have found that, they’ve found their second family and so for everyone to be uprooted and spread out across the city wherever they can find something affordable is really difficult,” said Emelia Sheeley, executive director of RIC.
Sheeley said eviction notices served earlier this spring require some tenants to be out by the end of April.
“I would like to see people being given more notice if they are going to have to leave. 30 days, it’s no time,” Sheeley said.
She said many neighbors are month-to-month tenants. While 30 days is the minimum required notice in those situations, according to Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio, they said it’s still tough on tenants.
“So even though it might be legal for a landlord to ask a tenant to leave in 30 days or 60 days, I think as we see here there are broader concerns about the community,” said Jesse Vogel, an Equal Justice Works Fellow with Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio. “This kind of displacement impacts the whole community. On Riverview Drive, it’s a really special place.”
Vogel said what’s happening on Riverview is an example of what’s playing out across other parts of Columbus too.
“It’s already hard for a new immigrant in the United States to find a safe and affordable place to stay, when you bring on top of that the fact that many properties are getting bought up or changing management or seeking to rehab their units and seeking to use that as a way to increase prices it really is something we’re seeing again and again not just on Riverview Drive,” he said.
RIC has created ways people can help out with this situation. Those interested can donate or volunteer to assist neighbors. Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio can be reached at 614-241-2001.
“Anyone who takes the step to immigrate is a courageous person and probably a really resilient person and so I want to believe that our families will be ok, they’ll figure it out, they’ll find a way, they already made the biggest step of their lives coming here but I do wish that it would be easier for them,” Sheeley said. “They’re strong people but even a strong person shouldn’t be treated this way.”
Property records show the new owners own at least six properties on the street. NBC4 reached out to the company, which said there was no comment at this time.
“These are my people, I have lived here for two years. I know her, I know everybody here, they know me,”
—Mohamed Benghezala,
Riverview Drive Resident
HOW TO HELP OUR NEIGHBORS