Street vendor couple Crispina Ortiz and Cándido Ramírez are on the verge of a nervous breakdown, as as early as next September they could be evicted from the rental home where they have lived for more than a decade in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.
“They are unfairly evicting us, not because we didn’t want to pay the rent, but because the new owner told us he wants to fix up the house to do business,” says Crispina, sobbing.
To support Crispina and Candido in their fight against eviction, please visit their GoFundMe page: Support for Cristina & Candido’s Eviction Battle.
The Opinion visited the rental house where Cristina lives with her husband Cándido, her 14-year-old daughter Bella and her 26-year-old son.
“We will be living in this house for 12 years. We have three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The rent is $2,282 a month.”
Crispina and Cándido, originally from Puebla, Mexico, say that when they moved to this home, they arrived with their four children, but the two oldest have already formed their own home and have left.
“The original owner was Mr. Mum, that’s what we called him, and we paid him through an agency that managed the rental. Mr. Mum was very good landlord. When we moved in, he came over to introduce himself and told us that this was ours as long as we were renting it.”
And so it was, Crispina says that Mr. Mum fixed any defect that arose.
“When I lost my sewing job and we started selling food in the driveway, Mr. Mum said it was okay as long as we looked after his house and didn’t destroy it.”
However, everything changed unexpectedly when around June 2020, the year of the Covid-19 pandemic, they were informed that Mr. Mum had died.
“Months before Mr. Mum died, he introduced us to his nephew JM, whom he told us he had just gotten out of jail. Little did we know that months after Mr. Mum’s death, one of his daughters introduced us to the nephew as the new owner.”
The new owner showed up with the family months later and everything remained the same until December 2021, when he no longer wanted to accept their rent and sent them an eviction notice.
“We went to see a lawyer who only got $2,000 from us and ended up telling us that we were wasting our time because they were going to kick us out in the end.”
Friends referred the couple to the North Los Angeles Tenants Union, where they were immediately provided with legal assistance, starting in 2022.
“They advised us to stop selling food in the house, and fortunately, a block from where we live, in a laundromat, the owner gave us the opportunity to set up our stand in the parking lot.”
Crispina says that it was then that she became depressed because the owner of her house began to harass them.
“He would come on his motorbike and take photos of us at the place where we sold food. He is a good friend of the tenant of the house behind him, which he also owns, and from that place he put cameras to watch our entrances and exits. That way he knew when we left for work so he could harass us at our food stand.”
Furthermore, without any malice, they let him into their house, under the pretext of checking that everything was okay, which he took advantage of to take as many photographs as he could that he later used in court in his favor.
“We presented our eviction case to a jury in San Fernando and they ruled in our favor in 2022. The owner sent us a message: ‘Hello family, I congratulate you in advance for having won, but you know very well that I should have won. We are going to remain a family, whatever is offered to you, talk to me,’ he told us.”
Crispina says that after the ruling in her favor, all of her back rent was paid.
“The owner left us alone for almost a whole year, but in November 2023, he announced a second eviction. This time he said he wanted to come and live in this house.”
The second eviction did not go as they would have liked.
“On August 5th they ruled against us and ordered us to leave. The judge asked the landlordif he was the owner, if he wanted to come live in this house, if he gave us an eviction notice 60 days in advance. He said yes to everything, and the judge ruled in his favor. We are appealing that ruling, and we expect a final resolution on September 9, to see if we stay or leave.”
In the midst of all this drama over keeping her rental home, Crispina says that the judge has not taken into account that they have a minor with a disability who has just entered Franklyn Secondary School.
“She lives in anguish, wondering what will happen to us, where we will go. This fight to keep us in this house that has been our home for many years has had a very strong impact on our mental health.”
Cándido says that they will fight as long as they can.
“There are many people like us fighting in court against eviction and to stay in their homes. We are low-income tenants who want to be forced out to raise the rent.”
He adds that there are too many eviction cases in Los Angeles.
“There are people who are evicted because they cannot pay the rent. Imagine if they cannot pay the rent, much less cover the costs of a lawyer. Luckily, we found the tenants’ union, which has supported us a lot and has taught us to know our rights.”
Crispina says they opened a GoFundMe account to raise funds, because moving is very difficult, and finding affordable rental housing is even more difficult.
“We humbly ask you to support us with whatever donations you can. We don’t want to leave, because this has been our home and this is our neighborhood. We have lived here since we emigrated to this country. The owner never proposed a rent increase nor did he ever approach us in good faith to negotiate. His response has always been eviction.”
Data released by the Los Angeles City Comptroller indicates that from February to December 2023, the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) received a total of 77,049 eviction notices.
- 96% of eviction notices were for “non-payment of rent”
- 91% showed up with 3 days notice
- $3,774 is the average amount of rent owed