WALNUT HILLS, Ohio — It's almost time for cheer practice.
Ni’Sean Stone hops out of bed and puts her shoes on. She’s excited to leave the house.
The fifth-grader loves cheerleading, but that’s only part of it.
Behind Ni’Sean’s head, there’s a bullet hole in her bed frame. On her windowsill, there are pieces of broken glass. It’s been that way for more than a month.
Her mom Shaundra Garnett said maintenance workers put tape on the walls to cover up the bullet holes.
“Wow,” Garnett said. “What’s that going to do?”
It doesn’t help Ni’Sean, who worries something terrible will happen again. The 10-year-old often sleeps with her mom now — at the end of the bed away from the windows — because she wakes up with nightmares.
“I’d rather be in a different home,” Ni’Sean said. “And feel more safe.”
When asked if she feels safe now, she shakes her head no.
“It’s actually depressing,” Garnett said. “I hate coming here.”
Garnett and her kids tried to move out of their low-income housing unit, but they couldn’t afford to. They lived out of a car, staying with friends and family. Eventually, they moved back because they had nowhere else to go.
“We have no choice because CMHA isn’t helping,” Garnett said. “They’re not helping at all.”
Cincinnati’s Metropolitan Housing Authority owns the property and helps with rent. But CMHA's federally-funded voucher program is facing budget deficits, meaning no new housing vouchers will be issued. It leaves people like Garnett waiting.
“Our city can do better. Our leadership can do better,” said Candace Tubbs, a longtime activist helping Garnett. “I would sleep in my car opposed to sleeping there.”
WCPO reached out to CMHA last week. The next day, maintenance workers fixed some of Garnett’s issues. The bullet holes are gone. The windows were replaced.
But now, the family must move. Because conditions in the home were deemed an “immediate threat” to their safety, according to a letter Garnett received from CMHA. On Friday, housing officials showed Garnett a home in Springfield Township. She said it was too small for her family.
Garnett told us she felt taken advantage of.
“We offered her what we have,” said Missy Knight, senior communications coordinator for CMHA. “That’s all we have.”
Housing officials declined an on-camera interview request for this story. In an email, Knight said CMHA's goal is to provide residents with a place where they can thrive.
Garnett said she just wants her kids to be safe.
“My baby could have been gone,” she said. “Any of us could have been gone.”
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How to help:
There is a GoFundMe account to raise money for Garnett and her family. You can find it here.
