In front of CASA's Langley Park headquarters, children from the neighborhood express their views on housing issues. Photo courtesy of CASA
Since her husband lost his job in March, Josefina Alonzo hasn’t paid the rent.
They had never missed the $1,600 monthly payment for their two-bedroom apartment in Langley Park, the predominately Hispanic community on the northern edge of Prince Georges County, near Hyattsville and College Park.
The novel coronavirus has made things worse for the couple and their four children, who range in age from 6 to 16.
Alonzo, who wears a mask, says people are sick all around her, a fact backed up by the Maryland Department of Health, which listed Langley Park with 2,207 COVID-19 cases as of Monday — the most for any Zip code in the state.
In 2002, Alonzo, then 22, paid a smuggler $5,000 to bring her across the U.S.-Mexican border from Guatemala, at Ciudad Juarez.
