We are members of Voices of Seniors Tenant Association (VSTA). We live in Sterling Village, a subsidized senior black community off of Candler Road in Decatur-- a low income and higher crime area. We have been residing in fear and dread of the unchecked COVID-19 infections in our building of 120 units. Our apartments are like living in a box, with no balconies and low ventilation. Complexes like ours experience disproportionate COVID-19 exposure, approximately 4.5x more than affluent white communities. Our apartment management refuses to communicate with us on this issue. A maintenance worker has informed us that one of our female neighbors died of COVID-19 this February, 2021. There were at least ten others sick with COVID-19 in the building. We've had two more deaths due to the coronavirus in just the first week of March. We have asked management time and time again to install safety measures including security to keep us safe, but our requests have fallen on deaf ears. How can we protect ourselves from the coronavirus when we have no idea who comes and goes throughout the complex? Management has been totally unresponsive and even resentful due to our prior requests for a security guard to stop a rash of auto break-ins. Tenants at Sterling, our complex under the jurisdiction of both the Atlanta and DeKalb Housing Authority, have a right to safe housing, and as a community of elders, we demand health equity and safety from COVID-19! We attempted to look elsewhere for help creating a stronger pandemic response for our senior living community. We called the CDC, who told us to call the State Health Department, who told us to call the Dekalb County Health Department who then said they could do nothing for us. Although all of the workers were very cordial, they all ultimately told us that they could not provide us with any help. To even access these sites, you need the internet. Thankfully, some of our members are able to afford their own computers and service, as the apartment's computers have been locked away for months. This lack of access to the internet for elderly Black residents is yet another disparity that management seem oblivious to. The residents feel hurt, angry and that no one cares if they live or die.

Residents at Clarkston Station have experienced countless indignities and violations of their rights as tenants at the hands of the managers and owners of the property. Residents have had to deal with mold, pests, broken air conditioning units, and ceiling collapses, with their repeated maintenance requests being ignored by management. The landlord has also repeatedly increased the rent and charged a ridiculous $25 fee for a trash disposal problem they caused through their lack of maintenance. On top of all this, the landlord has illegally attempted to evict residents in the middle of a pandemic despite a national moratorium on evictions. The owner of the property is Code Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in New Canaan, Connecticut, and has more than enough resources to address these problems. The residents of Clarkston Station have come together to demand that they do so.