Without giving her time to grab a brush to straighten her hair, Noemi Guzmán Castillero, a fruit vendor, found herself on the street, homeless.
Now she needs your donations to find a roof over their heads and not join the list of thousands of homeless people in Los Angeles County. For donations, visit: https://venmo.com/LasCallesDelValle
Noemi, her daughter Alicia and Ramiro Arizpe, another fruit vendor who rented rooms in a house in the Pacoima neighborhood of Los Angeles, were untimely evicted by Los Angeles sheriff’s agents.
The very family that rented the rooms to them was kicked out of their house.
“They didn’t give us time to get anything. They told us to come back the next day for our things,” says Noemi, a widow from 50 years old, immigrant from Puebla , Mexico, who does more than years living in Los Angeles.
“I started selling fruit on the street a long time ago with the first greengrocer in the San Fernando Valley. Then I stopped for a while, and 8 years ago, I entered fully again”.
He sells fruit in different cities of the San Fernando Valley. “Saturdays and Sundays we go to Camarillo to sell. Although in the cold, rainy and windy season like the one we have now, it becomes difficult to sell.”
A lot has happened to Noemi as a salesperson. Even a racist man destroyed his fruit cart in Granada Hills, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley, but he had never been the victim of an eviction, and less could he imagine it, since he always paid his rent on time.
It was Thursday in February that a loud knock was heard on the door of the house where I lived.
“I was very scared. I started to tremble. I have been diabetic for a long time years. It was around 9 in the morning when I heard that the police had entered and they were shouting that we all had to get out”. the house from which she was evicted. “The four of us settled down to sleep in the garage.”
But then two of them left, and only her and Ramiro were left.
“The owner of the house told us that he could rent us a room with a bathroom. My daughter Alicia came to live with me”, she recalls.
She paid the rent on time and everything was going well until the bailiffs came to evict them.
“They told us that we had to leave immediately. ‘They leave me! This house has to be uninhabited right now right now. Grab your bag and come back tomorrow from 8 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon for your things’, they shouted at us”.
That was how they were taken out of what had been their home.
“The police told us that the house already had new owners”.
Noemi says that in recent days they have lived like a miracle. “Overnight we were left on the street, and without money to rent another place.”
Ramiro, her daughter and her They were in a park after the eviction, trying to recover from the traumatic event when they were called by the man who had been their landlord until that day.
“Where are they? she asked us. Come on! we are in a hotel. He helped us pay part of the fee; and in a room with two beds we accommodated. Ramiro in a bed; and my daughter and I in the other.”
Sebastián Araujo – leader of the Las Calles del Valle organization that works to defend street vendors in the San Fernando Valley – gave them $400; and opened an account to collect donations to help them find a place to live.
However, Noemi is very worried because this Saturday is the last day they can pay for the hotel, and they don’t know where they will spend the night.
“I still feel very bad about what happened and what we are experiencing. Ramiro, my daughter and I are simple people. With the sale of fruit sometimes we win, and other times we don’t”.
Ramiro Arizpe de 39 years old is also an immigrant from Puebla, Mexico who has been making a living selling fruit for around 10 years.
” Everything has happened to us. They have stolen. They have threatened us. The police and even immigration have kicked us out. Now we have been kicked out of the house where we lived. With all this, sometimes one loses the desire to move forward”, he says discouraged.
And he comments that in spite of everything what has happened, he has never lived on the street, nor does he plan to live.
“The community has always understood us and has come out to support us. That’s why I’m not there to demand and I’m not embarrassed”, says Ramiro of 24 years.
Sebastián Araujo de Calles del Valle, said that the community has responded to help Noemi and Ramiro.
“There are different organizations that can help them find a temporary housing solution.”
And he commented that this is the fourth family of vendors who have been evicted from their housing in the San Fernando Valley.
“Evictions are becoming common because restrictions have already been lifted to prevent them from being evicted from their homes”.
He added that renting a home is an expensive and long process that is complicated for those who do not have an immigration status. “They ask for too many requirements.”
Lupita González from the tenants’ defense organization, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment- Los Angeles (ACCE), announced that an average of 1,429 requests for housing evictions in Los Angeles County.
“When the tenant is notified that they have an eviction lawsuit, they have 5 days to to answer. If they don’t, the owner goes free to evict them by getting an eviction order from a judge”.
González said that it is very important that those who rent rooms or garages are very pay attention to what is happening around you. “If they see something strange, they should find out if there isn’t an eviction lawsuit against their landlord that could also impact them.”
Fear of homelessness
A survey by the Pat Brown Institute and the California Community Foundation found that the pandemic, homelessness and the economy are top concerns for Latinos, who comprise a third of Los Angeles City and County registered voters.
The survey indicates that Latinos in LA County continue to suffer from the last two years of the pandemic and want officials to do something.
Nearly half of the 1,500 respondents said they had their work hours reduced or lost their jobs during the pandemic.
The 44% said they want the government to continue programs that offer relief, including eviction protection and stimulus checks.
Many disclosed that they face precarious finances in a county where the cost of living is through the roof.
Half disclosed that they have $500 or less in savings.
But in general, Latinos in the county are optimistic.
More than 70% they said that the economic situation has improved a little, and a 50% expect an improvement for the next 5 years.