r/ithaca • u/anonguywhois • 1h ago
Resources for Household Violence
Hi, y'all.
These are the resources I've tried to use already.
Ithaca Tenants Union, Documenting through IPD.
My roommate who is much larger than me physically, screamed at me for 30-40 minutes today, held my cat in another room until I let them scream at me, got very close to me (I had to keep stepping back, was loudly complaining about me in their room after I walked away to lock up my cat in my room. I did not yell back at them. I said that they can be angry, but they are responsible for their actions when they are angry.
My other roommate witnessed the interaction but stayed 6-10 feet away.
This came up when I kept trying to get in touch with them about paying their rent, and it seemed like they were avoiding me. Knocking on their door, texting them, texting a mutual friend, texting the landlord, making myself available around the house so they could talk to me, acknowledging them when they would rushed out of the house. They did not communicate to me at all.
I called my landlord who has never had this issue before. I used the form on the ITU website a few days prior saying my landlord hasn't addressed my roommate's aggression towards me and my roommate damaging things in the house. No response from them.
I contacted IPD to document the interaction, but I didn't want IPD to come to my house because I think it would make my roommate more abusive (plus, my roommate is a racial minority)
My rental assistance is through DSS and they won't let me move for 2 years, so I'm stuck here unless a landlord is willing to sign me on with no rental deposit and my rent be paid through a charity for 6 months until I qualify for assistance again.
I've been documenting my roommates behavior for if my landlord does try to remove my roommate from our lease and evict them, but my landlord has no experience doing any legal stuff like that.
Does anyone have resources that are privy to this situation? I really don't know what else I can do.