Many of them work in service industries as cooks, Uber drivers, nursing aides jobs that have been especially affected this past year. "I don't have money to pay rent," resident Mahlet Kassa says.
Tyrone Turner/WAMU
toggle caption Tyrone Turner/WAMU
Several residents of the Southern Towers apartment complex in Alexandria, Va., briefly had a campaign asking the landlord to cancel rent during the pandemic. Tyrone Turner/WAMU
The Southern Towers apartment complex in Alexandria, Va., right outside Washington, D.C., is like a city. It has five massive high-rise apartment buildings, along with its own bank, dry cleaners, and 7-Eleven.
Buses stream through the parking lot, constantly picking up and dropping off tenants, who use the transit system to get to work at nearby office buildings, hotels, restaurants, and nursing homes.
About 4,000 people live here. About 60% are immigrants, mostly from Africa, and a majority of the tenants are Black. Many of them work in service industries as cooks, Uber drivers, nursing aides jobs that have been hit especially hard by the pandemic.
Pam Fessler MORE Several residents of the Southern Towers apartment complex in Alexandria, Va., briefly had a campaign asking the landlord to cancel rent during the pandemic. Photo by Tyrone Turner - WAMU
The Southern Towers apartment complex in Alexandria, Va., right outside Washington, D.C., is like a city. It has five massive high-rise apartment buildings, along with its own bank, dry cleaners, and 7-Eleven.
Buses stream through the parking lot, constantly picking up and dropping off tenants, who use the transit system to get to work at nearby office buildings, hotels, restaurants, and nursing homes.
About 4,000 people live here. About 60% are immigrants, mostly from Africa, and a majority of the tenants are Black. Many of them work in service industries as cooks, Uber drivers, nursing aides jobs that have been hit especially hard by the pandemic.
Virginia Immigrants Hit Hard By Pandemic Fear Eviction, Housing Squeeze
By Pam Fessler
April 26, 2021
The Southern Towers apartment complex in Alexandria, Va., right outside Washington, D.C., is like a city. It has five massive high-rise apartment buildings, along with its own bank, dry cleaners, and 7-Eleven.
Buses stream through the parking lot, constantly picking up and dropping off tenants, who use the transit system to get to work at nearby office buildings, hotels, restaurants, and nursing homes.
About 4,000 people live here. About 60% are immigrants, mostly from Africa, and a majority of the tenants are Black. Many of them work in service industries as cooks, Uber drivers, nursing aides jobs that have been hit especially hard by the pandemic.