When Mark and Cari Leslie rented half a duplex on Fifth Street in March, the deal seemed pretty simple.

They would pay $475 a month and clean the house and the landlord would make needed repairs.

The problem, Mark Leslie said, was that he could never reach the landlord. The only time they talked was when he showed up to get the rent, and then he would say he didn’t have the time to make repairs right now, Leslie said.

After two months, Leslie, hoping to give the landlord some encouragement, called Neighborhood Code.

So last week, an inspector arrived at the house, looked it over, found numerous violations, including wiring problems, cracked walls, unsanitary floors, and so on – pages of violations. By the end of the inspection, the house was declared unfit for human habitation and ordered condemned.

That was May 15. The owner was given seven days to make the improvements, and if they weren’t made by May 22 the Leslies would have to leave.

That’s today.

So this morning, Leslie, his wife, his 1-year-old child and his mother will find themselves on the street with nowhere to go and no means to find a place to live.

The blow is the sort of misfortune that people like the Leslies really are in no position to handle.

Mark Leslie is from Fort Wayne, but he moved to South Dakota in 2005, followed by his mother a few months later.

He met his wife in South Dakota, and they moved back to Fort Wayne about a year ago so he could find regular work.

And he did, through temporary agencies. But he had some handicaps. He didn’t have a high school diploma. He didn’t have a car.

He could take the bus, but if it didn’t stop near the location of the temporary job, getting there on short notice was difficult.

So in time, because of transportation and education issues, the temporary jobs dried up.

Leslie had something to fall back on, though. He’d gotten a tax refund, which helped him pay rent for the last two months, so his family lived on that while he looked for a job. Meanwhile, his mother, who was living in South Dakota, came to Fort Wayne not long ago to help out.

But the refund money has run out, along with everything else.

A tax stimulus check is about to arrive with the timeliness of the cavalry. The $600 check is scheduled to be mailed Friday – to the condemned address.

Unemployment benefits might also be on the way. Leslie applied for that just this week after two months unable to find work.

Meanwhile, Leslie has been going to every aid agency he can find, looking for help, but no one is able to spring for the hundreds of dollars needed for a deposit and rent upfront.

He did contact the township trustee and has an appointment for this afternoon, hours after his present home will be condemned. The family even has an eye on another apartment, but, if the trustee agrees to help them with rent, the apartment will have to be inspected first, and the Leslies don’t know how long that will take.

So the Leslies stand in front of their home, clearly befuddled. They have a little bit of furniture, and they have a friend with a truck, so they can move it out. But they don’t have the money to rent a storage unit.

But that’s the furniture.

Where will they sleep? they ask. How will they keep their family together?

Leslie said one agency did tell them they could get what is called temporary housing, if there is room, but they are allowed to bring only one bag of clothes with them. They are talking about shelters.

That, at least, would put a roof over their heads but not as a family. Area shelters don’t take in both men and women. Splitting, at least temporarily, looks like the only solution.