Grandma vs. Evil Landlord: Please help me help my mom!

When your mom calls you in tears, you do anything you can to help her. So here we are.

My mother's name is Pam, and she is just about the most selfless, caring, and good-hearted person on the face of planet Earth. If you know her, you'd likely agree. Six years ago, through a strange series of events involving a Renaissance Festival, my terrible taste in men, and a forsythia bush, I ended up moving into an open townhouse down the street from her. Living 140 steps away from one's mother may sound less than ideal for a 40-year-old woman, but I can very sincerely say that these have been some of the best years of my life, and that is because my mom is such a stellar human. But now she is being taken advantage of, and I won't stand for it. (If you're short on time, cut to the *** now).

We live in a property in Webster called Summit Knolls. The property was built and run by one family for decades. The owner, Jay, retired to Florida, but his sister Mary ran the office, and his nephew Billy worked there too. They were wonderful. We trusted them. When my boyfriend left five months after he made me move to a bigger place, Mary worked with me so I could afford the rent on my own. They were decent people who cared about the community, and a community we were. Retired folks and single moms, teachers, and young families lived here. We had nice homes that were affordable, and we felt safe in them. Are they the fanciest places? Nope. Do we have amenities like fireplaces, pools, and community rooms like nearby properties? Also no. Did the lawn service accidentally cut down our flowers once in a while? Possibly. But when something broke, we trusted the maintenance guys to come over and take care of it. When we needed something, Mary and Bill were there for us. Overall, it has been a wonderful place to live.

Until Jay passed away a few years ago, and his daughter took over, who is some big shot in Manhattan now, and she's handed over the property to a rental agency. Since then, our rents have skyrocketed to "meet market value" while taking no account of the humans in the units who have made up this community for decades. In the last two years, just on my tiny street of eight rental units, we have lost two elderly couples, another single woman is moving this month, and now it's looking like they are about to add a 72-year-old grandmother who has been in her home for over a decade to the list of people priced out of their longtime homes. We loved our street and now our little community has been broken up because profits over people. They even took my forsythia bush.

***My mother has been working full-time for over fifty years—at a salary that baffles me as to how she does it—and she is about to lose her home of over a decade with just 90 days' notice. In the last two years, her rent has gone up $400 a month, and yesterday she got another $200 a month rent raise for the coming year, plus they are charging $35 a month for water! WATER. They want my 72-year-old mother, who is still working 35 hours a week at a title company (who has never given her a raise, btw), to pay $2000 a month for a basic two-bedroom townhome, all while the economy is tanking and Social Security is...? Who even knows what is going to happen to Social Security. I am already working 2-3 jobs to cover my own rent raises, but she just can't do that. She should be fully retired and living comfortably, but that's just not how our lives have turned out. Hard-working, decent people should not have things like this happen to them at this stage in their lives for the sake of a millionaire trying to make more profit. Is it the "going rent rate?" Maybe. Is it ethical or even necessary? Absolutely not.

So I am asking my people to step in and help a sister out. I want to help subsidize this rent raise and give my mom a year of affordable rent so that she can take the time to figure out her next steps—to find a place where she won't ever have to move again and she can actually retire. I will be hiding this fundraiser from her, so PLEASE, if you know her, don't tell her that I am doing this. She would never do this for herself. I know it's a long shot to raise $6000, but anything we can raise will help ease some of the burden of her situation. All funds will go to help her subsidize her rent raise for the year. I am going to give her all I can, but I am dealing with the same landlord myself, so anything you can offer is very appreciated.

My mom has given all she has for her whole life and never asked for a thing in return. She deserves a win.