Written by Jordan Lenoir
Please note descriptions of physical and sexual violence may be triggering for some listeners/readers.
In this fresh new episode of People’s Radio Hour on Open Air, host Jennifer Hampton is joined by Elizabeth Alvandi to discuss her recent feature in a Citizen Times article (published last Sunday) in which she discussed the violence in public housing communities and the lack of response from the Housing Authority or the Asheville Police Department.
Alvandi herself is a public housing resident, whom Hampton says has faced “some pretty harrowing instances of violence and assault, and if not for her incredible talent for documentation, there would likely have been no consequences for her attacker.” Alvandi asserts that “one of the reasons I am speaking up about my story is not necessarily because it’s so unique. I think what’s unique is that I am maybe a bit better positioned to speak out. I have experienced a bit of retaliation.” She goes on to say, “[The] Housing [Authority] should do more.” It is not only women who have experienced this violence, but men as well. Alvandi “believes this is something a lot of people have experienced.”
In this episode of Open Air, Alvandi also shares a traumatic event she experienced on September 20th, 2022, when she was violently assaulted outside her home in Deaverview. She shares that she had had a number of run-ins with her attacker, Jeremiah Jenkins, and instantly recognized him.
Alvandi then goes on to share that even though Jenkins was banned from the community, she and other residents still spotted him occasionally. She states, “I told my site manager that I had been threatened by this man… And instead of informing me that he’s on the ban list [and] he shouldn’t be here, she said, ‘Oh, that doesn’t sound like him,’ indicating she knew of him and thought he was better than that.”
Thank you, Elizabeth Alvandi, for sharing your story and spreading awareness about public housing violence.
For more on this topic, listen to the rest of this week’s Open Air episode.
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