Children ride bicycles on the cracked pavement of the parking lot at Seminary Lane Apartments, and the lawns are hardly more than leaf-strewn patches of dirt, but Calvin Bryant said he remembers a time when it seemed luxurious.
"When I first moved in, I loved it," he said. "I had never lived where there were two bathrooms. I had my own grass."
Bryant, 64, who has lived at the subsidized housing complex for exactly half his life, used his grass to plant a tree, which still stands.
But in less than two months, the tree, along with the rest of the complex, will be torn down, and Bryant worries that he won't be able to find another place he can afford.
"You gotta be dirt low poor to live here," he said. "People are scared. We need a place to stay."
Karen Godley, vice president of the board that oversees more than 50 duplexes at Seminary Lane, 1019 N.W. Fifth Ave., said the apartments have been losing money for five years.
"It's no longer feasible to continue to rent them," she said.
Godley said the residents will receive their vouchers in April, which will give them about a month to find new housing before the May 27 move-out date. Most low-income complexes won't reserve an apartment until potential tenants present a Section 8 voucher from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Usually vouchers are distributed only two weeks in advance, she said.
Godley, who also cited the condition of the buildings as a reason for the closing, said she hopes to see the current tenants return once the property is redeveloped, but she can't guarantee the possibility.
"If they'd like to come back, we hope they qualify. We really do," she said. "But you know what? They're moving on to better housing than what they have now."
But for Takarra Moore, the transition will be no luxury.
Moore, 24, lives with her two sons, 4-year-old Titus and 1-year-old Philemon, and fears that the cost of moving will be too steep.
"If you get the voucher and you have no money, you're still homeless," she said. "You still need to pay moving expenses, transferring utilities, security deposits."
Moore worries that she won't even qualify for the voucher because criminal records affect eligibility.
According to Section 8 counselor Gyra Bossle, vouchers are not given to anyone who has been arrested - even without conviction - in the past five years.
This may be a problem for Moore, who has been arrested, though never charged.
"I got a letter that said 'congratulations,'" she said. "But I don't think I'm through yet."
Moore said the arrests also haunt her in job applications. She is a certified nursing assistant, but she said her criminal record comes up immediately in most interviews.
"I'm as honest as possible," she said. "But they see the arrest and never look any further."
Moore said she took a class through the Florida Department of Children and Families that made her eligible for a $108 monthly stipend. But because of her pregnancy, it hurt to sit all day, and her car is too old to rely on.
"I know it's excuses," she said. "But it was just too much for me. That's life, I guess."
Moore plans to join the army reserves after she has her third child.
"I need some sort of stability," she said. "I need a way to support my sons."
Moore, who has lived at Seminary Lane for more than a year, said she thinks the closing of the complex has to do with UF.
"They want to make the area nice for the students. We know. We understand," she said. "But don't sugarcoat it for us. We just want a place to live."
Moore, who has gone to town meetings to plead her case to city officials, said she thinks that if the tenants of Seminary Lane worked together, they could influence the city to step in and help them.
"If we really grouped up - a force to be reckoned with - we could convince them to do something. I really believe that," she said. "But if we act like we don't care, then they don't care."
Gainesville City Commissioner Scherwin Henry said the commission is looking for a way to use city grants to give money to those who don't qualify for the vouchers, though he agrees that the complex needs to be torn down.
"It's in great disrepair," he said, and he fears it would become a health and safety problem if the apartments were left in place.
"I'd hate to see it get to that point," he said.
Bryant said water leaks through the roofs, and the sidewalks are cracked and jagged.
"One day I had my grandbaby in my arms, and I tripped and fell," he said.
But despite the deterioration, Bryant calls Seminary Lane home.
"I've been around here all my life," he said. "We've built a community, and it's just not right to take it away."
