A Hard Truth and Reflection on Life at Stephen Crane Village: Sam’s Story

On November 9, 2020, my mother returned home after a month of being hospitalized after a fall caused by a viral infection. That same night, she wound up back in the hospital after her legs gave out climbing the stairs. Later, it was discovered that she had pneumonia and suffered a mini heart attack. Previously, The viral infection that was the cause of hospitalization had been from mold exposure. There were three gaping holes where the ceiling fell in from water leakage in our kitchen. One of those holes had mushrooms sprouting out of them. Before the fall, my mother often sat in the kitchen, only to fall ill and return upstairs. The conditions of the house had never been this bad before.

Growing up in Stephen Crane Village had always been pleasant; It was clean, neighbors looked out for one another, we had basketball courts and a recreational center where the kids would have something to do over the summertime. During the Holidays, management would host events for the children, such as food, toy, and clothing drives, and have get-togethers in the rec room. The units were well maintained and preserved; If you had an issue with repairs, management would resolve it that same day; if not, the next day.

Those days are long gone.

Stephen Crane is one of the few housing complexes in Newark, NJ, and one of the oldest. It is also one of the latest housing complexes to fall victim to privatization, a process that has been going on since the mid-70s after tenants in the  Stella Wright Projects went on a rent strike to protest the inhumane conditions they face, a rent strike in which the tenants won. The strike brought the Newark Housing Authority (NHA) to the brink of bankruptcy. As punishment, a redevelopment process to knock down high-rise towers was conducted. Columbus Homes Projects on 7 th Avenue were one of the first casualties of this process when demolished in 1994. Soon after that, Kretchmer Homes, Seth Boyden Terrace, Baxter Terrace, Terrell Homes, and, as mentioned above, Stella Wright Projects were also demolished to make way for condominiums and townhouses.