Refugee, her daughters, 3 grandchildren face eviction in Sacramento ahead of Thanksgiving
A refugee from Mexico and her family are facing eviction from their Sacramento home on the day before Thanksgiving.
“My biggest worry is where am I going to have my grandchildren living,” Eduviges Garcia, 48, said Monday through a translator. “Them becoming homeless makes me really anxious.”
Garcia’s three grandchildren, including a 6-month old and two 5-year-olds, have been living with her in the Mangan Park home, along with her two daughters, her daughter’s partner and her own partner.
Due to the pandemic, Garcia lost her job cleaning homes last year. One of her daughters also lost her job working in a restaurant, she said. They fell behind on rent and owe more than $9,000. Last week, she was approved for Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency’s rental assistance program, she said, but the landlord is still evicting her.
A state eviction moratorium because of the pandemic expired Sept. 30, and Sacramento does not have a local version, although rental assistance is available through SHRA. Roughly 3,000 residents have received eviction notice of some kind, according to local housing officials.
A Sheriff’s Office notice said the family needs to leave the property by 6:01 a.m. Wednesday.
Garcia Realty is evicting the family because they damaged the property including the landscaping, let other people live there without permission and smoke marijuana inside the house, which the lease prohibits, said property manager Rosanna Garcia.
“The majority of our landlords are mom-and-pop landlords just trying to get retirement investment,” Rosanna Garcia said. “We get it that people come on hard times ... but if you start destroying the property, and not doing what you’re supposed to be doing as defined by the lease, then you gotta go.”
The case went to trial, and a judge ruled in favor of the landlord, Rosanna Garcia said. Eduviges Garcia did not have an attorney.
Eduviges Garcia said Garcia Realty approved her partner and daughter’s partner moving in. She said the landscaping is not damaged and they have never smoked pot in the house.
Garcia Realty had not fixed multiple maintenance issues, Eduviges Garcia said. She also said that her daughter was shocked by electricity while doing dishes, requiring care from paramedics. During last month’s rainstorm, the ceilings leaked severely, she added. The tub does not drain and when they shower, they have to scoop the water out.
Rosanna Garcia, the property manager, said the issues were fixed and invoices were submitted to the court.
On Monday, Eduviges Garcia planned to submit additional documents with the court in the hopes of getting more time. If she still has to leave Wednesday, she plans to put her things in storage and look for a hotel where her family can stay.
Her grandson, Abel Velasco Castillo, 5, is preparing for surgery due to a heart condition; Eduviges worries he will be homeless while having to recover.
“We have nowhere to go,” she told The Sacramento Bee.
About 600 Sacramento households were evicted during the first 14 months of the pandemic, not counting those who left before the Sheriff’s Office issued an order, a Sacramento Bee analysis found.
But the Garcia family’s eviction is one of several thousands of recent notices issued in the city since the moratorium expired.
“We did see at the end of the moratorium a huge influx of applications come in for people who were receiving some notice of eviction,” La Shelle Dozier, SHRA’s executive director, told the City Council last week. “As a result, we’ve had to really change our process and prioritize those individuals first. At this point we have over 3,000 residents who have received some type of notice. So we are working very, very diligently to make sure we get those funds out to everyone who needs it.”
During the coronavirus, rent prices in Sacramento have also skyrocketed, exacerbated by Bay Area workers moving to Sacramento to relocate and work remotely. The rent for the typical apartment in the region is now more expensive than New York City, Seattle and Washington D.C.
“We had a housing crisis before the pandemic,” said Kristin Lopez, member of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, during a news conference for Eduviges Garcia on Monday outside Garcia Realty. “Rent was already too high. Then they lost their jobs. People do not need to be homeless because of a pandemic.”
This story was originally published November 22, 2021 at 3:11 PM.
