My story is a little different since my family is being evicted without ever breaking our lease. We were never late on rent. We also own our own home, but rent the land. Our landlord hired an attorney to have us evicted. My lease said my landlord was supposed to pay into a relocation fund each month. They never paid, so we will receive no reimbursement for our house. We paid $25,000 for the house five years ago. We saved for years for this house so our kids could go to a good school. The judge granted us protection under the COVID-19 rules, but my landlord’s attorney somehow got the eviction through early. I never even had a hearing. I have no attorney so no one will listen to me.

We have four pets—two dogs and two cats—that we will have to give up. We got them when we were told that we could stay here for as long as we wanted. It is just not fair. I can’t drive, but I have a good job. My wife works too. We have nothing saved though because of the pandemic. I work at a hotel and my wife at a restaurant. We have been shut down a few of times due to covid.

No one cares. That is the surprising part. I will be evicted from a house that I own, and I will lose that house since they will demolish it. I have a daughter under quarantine from school. Now me and my four children will be homeless.

It is the worst feeling I have ever felt, especially when you never did anything wrong. An unreasonable landlord has all the power. The court ignored everything we said. I did not know not having an attorney would make such a difference. Our appeal was even accepted by a higher court, and the lower court is still going though with the eviction. This is wrong, but without an attorney, you cannot fight back. We did nothing wrong and do not deserve this.

Due the pandemic, there are no rentals even available right now. This eviction will devastate my family. We have no outside family to help. My wife’s father just passed away as well. I will lose my good job soon too, so I see things only getting worse.