Home for the holidays brings a special meaning for Leslie Lewis, whose been fighting evictions since 2011 in the Oakland home he was raised in.
“It’s been horrible. It’s been horrible and that’s the nicest thing I can say about how I’ve been treated,” he said.
It started when Lewis’ mom agreed to a reverse mortgage, then passed away shortly after. The house went into foreclosure.
Despite making payments and qualifying to purchase the home, Lewis claims his landlord has been trying to kick him out. Thursday was their ninth eviction attempt, a judge dismissed it based on a technicality.
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“That’s stress within itself and then, you would be receiving paperwork that if you are not a legal person how can you digest the paperwork and don’t have any legal representation?” Lewis said.
Local advocacy group Community Ready Corps or CRC paid for an attorney to represent Lewis. On Friday, they launched a campaign, demanding that city of Oakland provide legal representation for those facing evictions to understand the process and limit the number of evictions the court processes to 50 cases a week
“Right now, we have absolutely faced the dreaded eviction tsunami, that so many people said wouldn’t happen," said Tur-Ha Ak, founder of CRC. “The best way to keep people housed is to keep them at homes. When they are facing eviction, we want to make sure they get a fair shake."
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Since the COVID-era eviction moratorium ended, landlords have filed more than 4,000 evictions for residents in Alameda County.
Oakland councilmember Carroll Fife is hoping to create the new legal council policy CRC is pushing for, which she believes will prevent more people from becoming homeless.
“In terms of the benefit, you want to put the money in ahead of time, so, you don’t have to do it on the backend. Which is what people in Oakland and Alameda County, throughout the country are really frustrated with. There is no answer to homelessness,” she said.
But for now, keeping the home is a Christmas present Lewis hopes he can keep. As he continues to face obstacles purchasing his childhood home.
“It’s not over with,” he said. “So, I’m always looking for someone to come to the door, they are not going to stop.”
