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Donya T.
I am 64-yo retired grandmother, evicted in Florida while raising 2-children “left behind.” Evictions stay on file 7 years and expungements are rare. From FEMA fraud to prevalent, property-owner protection by the family courts, a cruel and discriminatory system fuels the housing crisis among Central Florida’s impoverished seniors. (more…)
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Chrisha C.
Hello, my name is Chrisha C. and I’ve been homeless for about two years now. I lost everything due to a domestic violence case, the abuse coming from my husband. I worked so hard to leave and now I don’t know where to turn or who to talk to. I’m just about ready to give up on life. (more…)
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Mary
Thank you for your research, book and ongoing efforts to champion the cause of affordable housing, in what is touted as the richest country in the world. I am inspired by the strength and perseverance of people everywhere who are facing eviction. (more…)
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Lindsay V
My son and I are facing eviction right now. I have court on the 18th of this month. I’ve been here 4 years now, but I lost my job due to daycare issues.
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Monica
I am a single mother of 2 children and I have a college degree. Due to the fact that both of my children are disabled (my son has a learning disability and my daughter has severe asthma), I am not employed full time. I work part time as a parent resource specialist. I am currently residing in an apartment that is more than 40 percent of my income. I pay rent late every month because I get paid once a month. (more…)
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Lynnette
In November of 2013 shortly before Thanksgiving, I came home to find an unlawful detainer had been served against me by my landlord’s management company for 3 months of unpaid rent. I immediately searched for my receipts, and found all but one. I did, however, find my receipt for sending it by certified mail. They did not apologize, but made copies of my receipts, and said they would contact me.
Court was in a week. When nearly a week passed with no call, I called them. I expressed my concern about not being contacted. Late in the evening of the day before the scheduled hearing, I discovered a voicemail telling me the hearing would still take place. I took off work and showed up early and registered. (more…)
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Robin Lindner
Hello Matthew and Tessa! My name is Robin Lindner. I’m a college student at Lord Fairfax Community College, I’m Middletown, VA. It’s really ironic that I’m taking courses in Human Services and we’re studing your book EVICTED and I’m on the brink of being evicted myself. (more…)
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Crystal D. Dunkin
I was forced into “eviction” because I was a smoker. This article does not cover that nor the nightmare I went through with the Property Management Company, trying to force individual smoking policy onto me; not all smokers within the community were treated like I was.
I fought as best I could to stick up for my rights but that proved to be very unsuccessful. (more…)
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Lashonda Smith
I am a 38yr old single mom of 3 boys, aged 19, 18, and 15. I will try to make this brief as possible. First of all, I always have struggled with rent and food for us; I always have kept a job or two. I never can afford the rent, which has always landed me and my boys in poor violent areas in Milwaukee, 53206. I keep my boys mostly in after school programs like the YMCA or Boys & Girls Club, but I always had to get into relationships with men to help keep the bills paid to stay stable. (more…)
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Celeste Scott
I am a 40 year old single mother who has been serially evicted. Mostly money judgements and being cost burdened causing it. I now work on housing policy and would love to have less studies and more people on the ground helping black single mothers to have safe decent stable homes .
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Candi Blalack
This is a copy of the letter I sent to local media and social media yesterday:
As I sit here reflecting on the last ten years, I beg for help and guidance for my 34 year old brother. May is mental health awareness month. It seems that mental health is not always talked about and it is perceived as shameful. I am one that is not ashamed. I am not ashamed that I have a brother who suffers from schizoaffective disorder. What I am ashamed of is the lack of care and opportunities available to keep him safe, as well as those around him. (more…)
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Ashlee
Ashlee is my name and growing up, I had a good life even though I was born with a birth defect known as Gastroschisis. That is a defect where the insides of my intestinal tract and bowels were on the outside of my body. I had multiple surgeries to correct the problem. As a young child, I was also diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). It seemed as if I always struggled just to fit in. As I matured, the behavioral problems only seemed to magnify my physical problems and I carried all of into adulthood. I found myself in a relationship that, after 14 years, was no good for me. I was evicted out of that relationship and home that we shared due to him cheating on me. From that point on, my life spiraled out of control. I became addicted to drugs and could not find a way of escape. I was able to hold down jobs from here and there but not for long. I was evicted from one home after another due to my inability to keep a job and pay rent. (more…)
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Nikki
I am Nikki, a 38 year old female from Greensboro, GA. I am divorced, single mother to a very beautiful, very intelligent 15 year old daughter and a Corrections Officer and 911 Dispatcher. In 2005, I was standing alone in a parking lot and was hit by a passer-by in a truck which knocked me 9 feet into the air and I then landed on my head. Not only did I have 32 staples in my head, but I was forced to learn to walk again. In my search for wellness, I was prescribed nerve pills, pain pill, and sleeping pills just to make it through a day that would seem normal to someone else. (more…)
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Jim Norrena
Living the Artist’s Life: How Oakland Failed Me
In 1993 I was 23 years old, working as an editorial assistant earning $13 an hour for a book publisher in Berkeley. I was inspired by the Bay Area’s thriving publishing scene, motivated by the arts community, and eager to build a comfortable life near my family. My apartment, a ground-floor in-law in a duplex, was admittedly was a steal at $550 a month. This had the added benefit of affording me rent control protection because in Oakland properties with three units or fewer in which the owner does not reside are protected. (more…)
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David Chin
I have been evicted twice, almost a third time. I split from my fiancee and found a place so I could stay and my daughter could be at. It was an apartment made on the side of a garage. One bedroom ( I used for storage as I could not afford one). We slept in the main room together. The electric kept cutting out and we could not use an AC window unit because it would blow out the fuses. The shower would back up and the toilet would not flush. I made issue of this and even had the county inspect. They cited him but he did just the minimum and found that he could get grandfathered in for the rest. So he could evict me for causing him problems. (Later he could not rent it anyway as the unit was not sealed from fumes from the garage side.) (more…)
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