I am writing you to let you know that my husband, who is a senior citizen, lost his job on March 7, 2020. My husband is 65 years old, and he worked in places across Miami, Florida. He goes to different office buildings asking attorneys, judges and business professionals to let him shine their shoes and do shoe repairs. He has been doing this for the last 40 years, and we have been getting by with his tips to pay our rent. My husband works directly with the public, face to face communication, and now the job he has done for so long he won’t be able to do anymore because the COVID 19 pandemic.

(more…)

I receive SSI assistance. In the month of December, I was charged an additional $42.00 for electricity. I lived in subsidized housing. I was unable to pay this expense along with my rent. I offered to pay the difference at the beginning of the year. I’d been there for a year with no issues. I had never been late, missed, or deferred a payment of any kind on my rental agreement. I was not paid until January 19th, which happened to be the day before my birthday. My birthday came, and having been without a dime to my name for over a month, I was extremely excited to receive my check. Soon as it was deposited into my account, I attempted to pay my rent and the overage from the month before. (more…)

A place on Orwood St. was owned by a single lineage till 2019 when foreclosure stole it from a family of four. My family (currently in occupation) came to call this property home in January 2017 after battling homelessness and separation for approximately 3yrs. As we were just getting on our feet from unemployment, and the rent prices were increasing, we would find ourselves back into an emotional overload. The employer that made it possible for me to reunite with my family after 2+yrs of living vagrant terminated me for basically being homeless.

(more…)

I am currently living in a home and was living with my landlord / roommate up until May. I am located south of Tampa, and she started a new job in Melbourne on the opposite coast. I took care of her dogs for a month and still paid my rent. (more…)

Hi my name is Jaterrica, I’m 36 years old and this is my story. It all started out when I had me an apartment and my best friend got arrested. I didn’t know what had happened, so I went to go find her. We was living in an 3 bed apartment complex, and when I got there to see what happened, out of nowhere this cop arrested me for no reason. I fought my case and had to pay $200 to have my record expunged. Ended up losing my place to stay because I was arrested for no reason, so the judge couldn’t help me keep my place. I got evicted from my apartment. I went from home to home with my son. Then I ran into some people that said they was going to help me, and me being the kind person that I am, I asked them can they help me and my friend because she had a child too. Only to find out the friend I was helping would cause me to lose a place for me and my son to lay our heads. And here it is we are homeless now, in a place we don’t really know about, all because she was too selfish to follow the rules which jeopardized our place. The place we live in now is not stable or livable for me or my son, but they insist we pay rent for an unstable place. No jobs are hiring right now due to the COVID-19. And they expect me to come up with rent. I am not able to come up with that type of money before July 1.

Back in March I was going to hold rent till my landlord would fix 3 windows that are so old and glued shut. My son’s window only has glass on top, and it’s the only screen and storm window. All the outlets are as old as the building, and when the shower water rose past ankles, my landlord said she would send her son over to do what needs to be done. So on March 4th, he shows up, and i tell him what needs to be fixed he say ok, he will come back tomorrow. On the 10th of March i get eviction notes for April. I was told by the tenants downstairs my landlord doesn’t have this place down as rentals, and that she did the same thing to a few other tenants that lived here. All because we asked for things to be fixed. I have to be out next month and to rent a two bedroom is crazy. Over a thousand dollars first and last months rent its hard and lots of places do not allow pets.

I lived in my home for 19 years. Was alway allowed to smoke in the home, then landlord sold the home, and after 17 years the new owner put a piece of paper in my mailbox saying no more smoking in the home! So i started smoking outside, and the one time i did smoke a cig in my bedroom, the new landlord said he saw me smoking and gave me a 30 day notice to move. I tried asking for another chance but he said NO. I paid my rent alway on time for 20 years. So not fair. I am a widow and still payed my rent on time and the old landlord and i got along great, and he said i could smoke in my home. I know i messed up smoking that one cig but so mean to kick me out.

After my divorce, I stayed in our family home with our 3 children. The home was owned by my ex-husband’s parents (our children’s grandparents). When my husband and I were married, we often could not afford to pay his parents rent because he could not keep a job. After he moved out, my father-in-law charged me $750 per month. After 1 year, he increased the rent to $2000 per month. It was supposed to stay at $2000 until our youngest graduated high school (about 8 years). However, my ex-father-in-law passed away and my ex-husband and his sibling raised the rent to $2300 then gave me an eviction notice at the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

Once the pandemic hit, I was out of work and unable to pay rent. After notifying them that I could not pay rent, I received 2 eviction notices in the first month (one posted on my door and the other certified mail), then received a “pay or quit in 3 days” the second month.

To avoid the harassment and stress, I found another home for our children and myself. Once we started to move things out of our house, I received a letter demanding that I allow them to enter before we were moved out. Because it was during COVID I was advised that they could not enter unless it was an emergency.

The whole experience was very stressful but I am grateful that I am no longer being harassed.

During COVID 19 my landlord said rent was due in full regardless, and $650 per month plus utilities is rough when businesses are closing and laying people off while denying unemployment benefits for over a month. He stated that at the beginning of May everyone that has not paid will be evicted per Hardin county judges. I paid $500 of it then paid $187 for electricity, and I hope that the economy reopens so I can go back to work ASAP. Cannot afford to be unemployed or sick.

Ok want to start out by saying this eviction occurred during the pandemic. I went to visit my son who lives in Fort Myers which is about 90 miles one way from Bradenton. So that left only my daughter who is 18 yrs old at home. While I was visiting my son, I became ill and was admitted in the hospital. My daughter’s boyfriend had been going by checking on her until he found out I wasn’t coming home any time soon. He started staying there. I had gotten a call from my landlord saying she needed me to pay rent early. That was on March 29th and rent was paid on March 31. The very next day my daughter gets a 7 day eviction notice. It stated that I abandoned the property and I was subletting, and I owed like 6 months in late fees. I was told after the 15th rent was considered late and a fifty dollar late fee was added on. There were months I did pay after the 15th and I did pay the fifty dollar late fee. I had been renting from this person for six years. I could not believe that she would do this to us, and through the time period that we were on lockdown, with everyone not working and we were told evictions were put on hold for 45 days. Well we was served with legal eviction. How can this be happening when no one is able to work or even be out. This has destroyed my faith in human compassion and empathy for one another, by the way this is a Christian community.