TAMPA, Fla. — We all know how difficult it can be to find housing in the Tampa Bay area, and it’s even more complicated if you have an eviction on your record.
“It’s home, you know. They say home is where the heart is and, so, that was my home,” said Lavithia Howard as she remembered the good times she had in her previous home with her family.
“We had trick-or-treated, Halloween, New Year’s celebrations, attended birthday parties of the kids together, basketball games, things like that,” said Howard.
A mother of four and working a full-time job, she said her left leg began to swell at the beginning of the year, making it difficult for her to walk and forcing her to admit herself to a hospital.
“They discovered that I had a blood clot in my leg, and that led to me being hospitalized,” said Howard.
While being hospitalized, she received a diagnosis that was life-changing: cancer. “Through that time frame, I had gotten behind on my bills, behind on my rent particularly,” said Howard.
Soon after that came an eviction notice. “This was just posted on the door. Very embarrassing. So, I kind of just took it off the door so that my neighbors wouldn’t see that,” said Howard. Now, she’s living in a hotel.
“When we talk about homelessness, there are multiple ways people, unfortunately, become homeless and enter our system,” said Dr. Monika Alesnik with the Homeless Leadership Alliance of Pinellas.
“You know, we’re seeing more people coming into the system and facing homelessness because of this type of situation because they’ve gotten ill or they’ve become sick, or they had to take time off because of Covid or illness or taking care of family,” said Dr. Alesnik.
“An eviction, itself, may not immediately lead to a family experiencing homelessness, but that eviction can start a spiral of housing instability in which the family eventually does become homeless,” said Andrew Aurand with the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Aurand said some things could be done to protect those who are house insecure, such as strengthening tenant protections to balance the power and the federal and local governments investing more in affordable housing to meet the demand.
He said, unfortunately, there isn’t much that can be done once an eviction is on your record.
“But the two things that I would recommend doing is, one, if your area has it, calling 211. They would be able to tell the family the resources that are in existence in that particular area, and then the other advice I would give in facing eviction is contacting a legal aid organization to make sure that you are protected,” said Aurand.
As for Lavithia, she finally found a new home where she and her family could live. Her new landlord decided to overlook her eviction
Resources
https://211tbc.myresourcedirectory.com/index.php/component/cpx/?task=resource.view&id=3743397
