Jamaine Cripe - On Paying It Forward

Jamaine Cripe

My first apartment in NYC was a 10-minute bus ride after the last stop of the #7 train to Flushing Queens.  The house was owned by Lynn and her teenage daughter and the rent was $100 a month.  No, that price is not a typo.  Lynn rented her finished, basement apartment to new arrivals for $100 a month.

Lynn had struggled to find affordable, safe housing when she moved from North Carolina as a single woman back in the 1970's.  After that experience, she promised herself that if she ever owned a house in NYC, she'd rent a space to single women for $100/month for one year.  During that year, the women would be able to save for their next apartment, discover more about NYC and where they wanted to live, and just "get their feet underneath them."  Lynn felt that these women would have a better chance of adjusting to life in a big city through this unorthodox offering.

Getting this apartment with Lynn was the greatest gift I’d ever gotten from a stranger.  If she hadn't made that Yahoo listing (and I hadn’t gotten to it before some other young woman did), I wouldn't have been able to stay in NYC for grad school.  I didn't have a job or apartment lined up before I got on that August 1998 Greyhound bus from Florida (#leapoffaith).  The other available rooms were with people who had no interest in getting to know me and only saw my potential as thousands of dollars up-front.

In contrast, Lynn made me feel welcome.  We had tea a few times a week after I’d get home from school or work (I’d started temping) and we’d laugh about the “City things” I was learning (we had a common Southern upbringing).  She also helped me overcome my fear of cats.  I adopted Einstein (the cat) who she promptly fell in love with and asked to keep when I moved in with Rick nine months later.  I let him stay.  It was the least I could do for Lynn after giving me the gift of home.