Milly Torres, a longtime activist in New Jersey, has spent 45 years advocating for residents against landlord scams, housing exploitation, and homelessness. Despite her personal struggles, including widowhood and an autoimmune disease called Guillain-Barré syndrome that can cause muscle weakness and paralysis, she stepped back into public life for the first time in three and a half years to attend the July 8 affordable housing town hall in Jersey City.
“I’ve seen people cry, I’ve seen people die because of [the] stress,” Torres said of finding affordable housing in her city. She described a scam where landlords sometimes show a three- or four-family house to up to 10 people in one day, charging each a $75 screening fee.
“Then they come and tell you, ‘Oh, well if you don’t have the two and a half months security, you can’t get the home,’” she said. “That’s a big major problem we have in the city.”…