The Prospect Community is practically empty, as many Residents have already packed up and moved away after receiving notice last month that they had 30 days to vacate the community due to structural issues. However, one family has not packed up or moved away yet. We spoke with a disabled resident on Friday who says the Johnstown Housing Authority is allowing her and her family to remain in the Prospect Community until they can find an accessible unit to go to.
Sharhonda Roebuck saying: “I did grow up in Johnstown originally, but I moved around a lot. I’m here now and I’m here, in this project and this is home.” Sharhonda and her family have resided in Prospect for over a decade. Like the rest of the Community, they were shocked and upset when they received notice they had to vacate the place they called home due to structural issues. Sharhonda saying: “I cried. I really did cry, and I’m not a crier.”
Sharhonda and her mother/caretaker Yvonne say they were originally offered to relocate into the Solomon Homes. Yvonne saying: “Right away I refused. They took us to Coopersdale to a place and that wasn’t suitable.” Sharhonda adding: “I’m afraid of guns. All this crime that’s here now, I’m not down with that.”
Besides crime being a concern for the Roebucks, they say neither Solomon nor Coopersdale had accessible units available for Sharhonda and her disability. Yvonne saying: “Since she was 15, she’s been dealing with MS. She’s been in the chair about 7 years.” Sharhonda adding: “The doors weren’t wide enough.”
And so, until the Roebucks can find a place that accessible for Sharhonda, the Johnstown Housing Authority is allowing them to remain in the Prospect Community. Yvonne adding: “We don’t know how long we will be here.” The Roebucks say they have not experienced any structural issues during their time in the Prospect Community, but say they want to get out as quickly as possible if it is as dangerous as they are told.
To speed up the process of finding a house, they created a GoFundMe page. Yvonne saying: “The purpose of it is to get Shay a house,.so she’ll never have to go through this again.”
