Landlords destroyed our neighborhood during COVID
Tax deductible
I am a caregiver for a wonderful 67-year old woman with dementia. Landlords have refused to fix her heating for upwards of 10 years and tried repeatedly to harass her out of her home during the eviction moratorium. We are cold and need a lawyer. Please share and consider donating to this fundraiser.
In 2019, a property development company purchased our apartment complex and hiked the entire neighborhood’s rent by $400. When forced to lower the rent back down, they moved to evict the entire neighborhood. Our community was featured in the Signal Tribune for making a stand (Article).
We fought and overturned the first evictions, so they fell back on intimidation tactics to shake us out. Each time someone was forced out the landlords would run intense construction in those units every day for months, banging on the walls and making as much noise as possible. Because of the pandemic, we had to stay inside and endure it.
On December 3rd of 2020, there was a regional Stay at Home order announced because of critical ICU bed capacity. Also on December 3, 2020, the landlords sent a second eviction notice to all of the remaining tenants. The message was clear: they didn't care about the eviction moratorium, the law, and they didn’t care about peoples’ lives. Our landlords intended to sacrifice us for their shareholders' profits.
They followed up with sabotage of our utilities and online payments, telling us that "no rent was due" to trick us into nonpayment. We had to mail our rent checks in with certified mail while the landlord was telling us not to do so. Our water and electricity utilities were sabotaged by a construction crew being led by the man that signed our eviction papers.
This is unfortunately commonplace, and we need to make a stand. Legal Aid has informed us that corporate landlords target low-income areas because gentrification is highly profitable. For every $100 rent increase, the property value increases by $30,000. Tenant protection laws prevent extreme rent hikes while a tenant is in the unit; therefore, they have to bully people out to flip the property. According to City Hall, the responsibility of enforcing tenant laws falls upon the tenants, who naturally cannot afford to take this to court. This is a major systematic inequality and we need your help to win this fight.
A 501(c)(3) organization, The Missionary District of Turtle Island, is helping manage this legal fundraiser, so all donations are tax-deductible in the United States.
Thank you very much for your time.
In 2019, a property development company purchased our apartment complex and hiked the entire neighborhood’s rent by $400. When forced to lower the rent back down, they moved to evict the entire neighborhood. Our community was featured in the Signal Tribune for making a stand (Article).
We fought and overturned the first evictions, so they fell back on intimidation tactics to shake us out. Each time someone was forced out the landlords would run intense construction in those units every day for months, banging on the walls and making as much noise as possible. Because of the pandemic, we had to stay inside and endure it.
On December 3rd of 2020, there was a regional Stay at Home order announced because of critical ICU bed capacity. Also on December 3, 2020, the landlords sent a second eviction notice to all of the remaining tenants. The message was clear: they didn't care about the eviction moratorium, the law, and they didn’t care about peoples’ lives. Our landlords intended to sacrifice us for their shareholders' profits.
They followed up with sabotage of our utilities and online payments, telling us that "no rent was due" to trick us into nonpayment. We had to mail our rent checks in with certified mail while the landlord was telling us not to do so. Our water and electricity utilities were sabotaged by a construction crew being led by the man that signed our eviction papers.
This is unfortunately commonplace, and we need to make a stand. Legal Aid has informed us that corporate landlords target low-income areas because gentrification is highly profitable. For every $100 rent increase, the property value increases by $30,000. Tenant protection laws prevent extreme rent hikes while a tenant is in the unit; therefore, they have to bully people out to flip the property. According to City Hall, the responsibility of enforcing tenant laws falls upon the tenants, who naturally cannot afford to take this to court. This is a major systematic inequality and we need your help to win this fight.
A 501(c)(3) organization, The Missionary District of Turtle Island, is helping manage this legal fundraiser, so all donations are tax-deductible in the United States.
Thank you very much for your time.
Fundraising team (2)
David B
Organizer
Long Beach, CA
Missionary District of Turtle Island LLC (District of Turtle Island)
Beneficiary
Lonie J
Team member