The city has trouble finding landlords who will rent to the very poor and who will put up with city inspectors' demands. The city ordered Kennedy's Villa Heights house demolished in March 1997 and said they'd help build him a new one. But Kennedy's house wasn't torn down until more than a year later. He's still waiting for his new home. Kennedy was relocated to a run-down home on nearby Umstead Street.
Roaches have the run of the place.
Men smoke marijuana out front in broad daylight. Kennedy says the same people barge into his side of the duplex and use his bathroom, steal his food and roll dice on his back porch. He has been robbed more than once. Kennedy retaliated one time, firing his shotgun at the man fleeing through his front door. The cops took away his gun.