Christine Thompson is eager to leave the two bedroom apartment she rents in a shabby house on the north side of Milwaukee. There are so many things wrong with the place. "In the bathroom I have to turn my shower on in order for the light to come on. And when I turn the shower off, the light goes off," she says. The apartment also has mice, cockroaches, and so many bedbugs that she and her sons — ages 3 and 7 — sleep on an air mattress on the dining room floor, where's there's no carpet. She also has no oven or stove, and water leaking from the ceiling. But Thompson's search for a new place has hit a brick wall after her landlord recently filed an eviction case against her, saying she owes more than $3,000 in back rent. She says most landlords won't rent to her with a potential eviction on her record while others are demanding that she pay two months rent, plus a security deposit, up front, something she can't afford. Thompson is hardly alone. There are about 12,000 eviction cases each
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