Help our elderly neighbor avoid eviction and stay housed

My name is Mireya and I am creating this GoFundMe on behalf of my neighbor, Justin.

Justin is 74 years old and has lived in our apartment building in the MacArthur Park/Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles for over 45 years.

Recently Justin’s health has taken a serious turn—he’s showing clear signs of dementia and is no longer able to work. Last week, we were heartbroken to learn that our landlords issued him an eviction notice, demanding payment of all back rent within three days or else a formal eviction would be filed. We later found out he hasn’t paid rent since November.

After explaining his situation to our landlords, they have not taken any further action for now. But we’re racing against time to raise the funds to cover his back rent, and prevent a formal eviction of an elderly man with no family, no savings, and no backup plan.

Justin worked as a Hollywood tour guide for most of his life. He loved his job and was always researching and adding new stories to his tours. After years of having his hours steadily cut, Justin was let go about a year ago. He signed up to drive for Uber and loved it, but as his memory loss progressed, he started making mistakes on rides and was eventually permanently banned from driving on the platform. And despite our greatest efforts, his dementia has made it impossible for him to find a new job.

With no family or friends to turn to, myself and two other neighbors have stepped in to help however we can. We’ve looked into assistance programs like StayHousedLA and People Concern, but unfortunately, Justin hasn’t qualified for any of these programs. We’re in the long process of getting him an official dementia diagnosis so he can qualify for disability benefits, and we’re working on getting him onto senior housing waitlists. But these things take time, and right now the priority is keeping a roof over his head.

One day we could all be in Justin’s shoes, facing a system that makes it nearly impossible to survive. We’re doing everything we can, but we need support from our community. Any amount helps. Thank you for looking out for our neighbor <3