CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Last week, Kionna Dennis and her son received a shocking wake-up call when a car crashed through the wall of her spare room, an incident that has left them homeless and with impossible options in a situation where they were the victims.
On Aug. 15, at approximately 5:42 p.m., a Cadillac CTS crashed through a gate at the dead end of Lancaster Road and into Dennis’s first floor apartment at Grand View Park Apartments. The driver was taken into custody for suspected DUI.
After assessing the damage, the Clarksville Department of Building & Codes deemed the apartment unsafe. Dennis and her 11-year-old son would have to leave. When asked where her family should stay, Dennis said the manager for Grand View Park Apartments said she couldn’t do anything about it.
“She said that I needed to call the Red Cross or figure out where I could stay, and that they couldn’t accommodate me,” she said.
That night, Dennis stayed with a friend. She and her son have been living out of her car since then, just weeks before the start of school.
Feeling out of options, Dennis contacted the Commission on Religion and Racism (CORR) of Clarksville, who agreed to contact the apartment complex on her behalf.
After being contacted by local CORR President Leonia Sanders-Tucker, Grand View offered to provide Dennis with another apartment by pushing back someone else’s move-in date; however, the new apartment would be on the second floor. Dennis said she has a heart condition and only one lung, and having to climb stairs on a regular basis would be a health risk.
“I’m declining it not because I don’t need it. I am declining it because of my disability,” said Dennis. “I can’t physically take it.”
Dennis added that the new apartment would not be ready for seven to 10 days, leaving Dennis living out of her car.
Grand View Park referred Dennis to Fieldstone Village Apartments, located on Dunlop Lane near Tennova Healthcare, but she was told that they required a $300 deposit.
Dennis said she asked Grand View Park to return her security deposit, but at first they declined, saying she must be fully moved out of the former, currently condemned, apartment.
On Aug. 18, Dennis got another letter from Grand View Park stating that if she turned down the second-story apartment, her security deposit would be returned to her, and she would have until Aug. 31 to remove her possessions. But she still hasn’t heard whether the apartment is safe enough to go in and start packing.
Grand View Park Apartments is owned by United Apartment Group, based out of San Antonio, Texas. Neither Grand View Apartments nor United Apartment Group returned calls from Clarksville Now seeking comment on Tuesday or Wednesday.
