Stockstradamus AKA Stocky’s Blog

A few days before Christmas we get this heartbreaking Frontpage above the fold story about a young mother who just gave birth to a new baby but is struggling to keep her family warm.

In a sign of the times twist, it’s not some generic evil landlord that is keeping our poor family in the cold but it’s an evil bank/mortgage company who recently foreclosed on the previous generic evil landlord.

It’s a terrible situation. The new evil landlord will not pay for the delivery of heating oil. They won’t clear the sidewalks of snow either.

Tenants in some foreclosed Boston apartment buildings are living without adequate heat because the new landlords - mortgage companies often based in other states - have not repaired broken systems or paid for the delivery of heating oil.

Karla Herrera, who gave birth to a daughter Wednesday, has lived without heat in her Roxbury apartment since November, when the system broke. “Sometimes, I turn on the oven for 20 minutes for heat,” she said in Spanish, speaking through an interpreter.

Now Stocky is not a total bastard. I do have sympathy for those poor kids but there are some things the Globe left out of the story that leads me to ask a few questions.

The woman spoke through an interpreter. What are the odds that she’s here legally?

She just gave birth to another kid. Where is Dad(s)?

Is there a law against her paying for a load of heating oil herself? She could deduct the amount she paid for the oil from the rent she’s paying.

Assuming she’s paying rent, of course. The amount of rent is mysteriously left out of the story. You’d think The Globe would put that in the story. It would certainly add to the outrage. Call me a cynic but I’d bet half her welfare check that she is not paying a dime in rent.

Which leads me to another question. Why did the buidling go into foreclosure in the first place? Is it possible that tennants not paying rent could have contributed to that? How hard would it have been for the Globe to find the previous owner?

And who do you think is paying for her hospital stay? Hint: look in the mirror. Again, where’s Dad(s).

In another building the Mortgage company has offered the tennants $1,000 to vacate the building. Sounds reasonable to me but not to some of them:

All but one of the other tenants, a woman with a new baby, left after receiving $1,000 from New England Group, which represents the new landlord, GMAC Financial Services.

Murdaugh’s reply to the offer: “Are you serious? Where do we have to go?”

Much less is known about Murdaugh’s situation but I think it’s fair to guess that she’s not paying rent either. If that’s true then yes, finding a new place to stay for free would be tough.

So excuse me for lacking “compassion”.