After surprise occupants and delays, man settles into West Baltimore rowhouse

The smell hit Jalen Absolum after he was finally able to step into the rowhouse in West Baltimore that he and his mother purchased using money he won through a lead paint lawsuit settlement.

Trash filled rooms that had once been empty when he closed on the home in cash.

Cigarette butts were piled up, and the walls carried the scent of nicotine. A door in the basement was broken.

That’s the condition in which Absolum found his home on Riggs Avenue in the Mosher neighborhood, which he‘d been unable to move into for more than three months because another family claimed they had a lease.

Following a court hearing, weeks of waiting and a postponed eviction due to the weather, the family inside the house left on their own before sheriff’s deputies had to remove them.

“I was waiting, waiting, waiting,” Absolum said. “I felt a bit relieved.”

Now Absolum and his sister, Janiene Smith, are cleaning, making repairs and trying to settle into the home.

Absolum, 18, is studying for his GED diploma. Smith, 34, is taking classes at Vision Allied Health Institute in Towson to become a certified nursing assistant.

They’re originally from Philadelphia, and the two are getting acquainted with Baltimore.

Smith said their neighborhood seems to be filled with families, and she discovered they’re not the only fans of the Philadelphia Eagles. She likes seeing the joy in the children walking to nearby Katherine Johnson Global Academy. And she found some catfish, which she described as “pretty good.”

“What do you think about it?” Smith asked her brother. “How was it for you out of 10, the catfish?”

“It was decent,” Absolum replied.

“Out of 10, how would you rate it?” she pressed.

“I said decent,” he responded.

Smith said she’s no longer sure she believes the other family was scammed. They told Baltimore Police they found the property on Facebook Marketplace and paid $4,800 in cash to cover the security deposit, rent and water bills.

Either way, Smith agreed to pay them for a refrigerator they left in the home.

She’s also frustrated with the eviction process, noting her family paid a locksmith more than $500, only for the sheriff’s office to then cancel.

Baltimore Assistant Sheriff Nicholas Blendy said it’s common for the office to reschedule evictions.

Blendy said sheriff’s deputies informed the other family the eviction was going to happen at some point. He noted the office resolved the issue without using force.

“You’ve got a sheriff who’s committed to humanizing the eviction process, and that’s what you saw here,” Blendy said. “Fortunately, it resolved itself.”

Smith said she has a greater appreciation for how a lack of stable housing “cascades into a host of problems.”

“When you don’t have that stability, I really can see from both perspectives how that really damages and affects the way that you operate and move in the world,” Smith said. “Homeownership should be accessible for more people.”

Low-income renters have few options and are susceptible to scams, attorneys who represent tenants say. Many times, they rely on word of mouth or community bulletin boards to find housing.

Housing insecurity, Smith said, is a more complex issue than people understand.