Urgent Help for Sydell's Housing Crisis

My name is Sydell Strong, and my family and I were just recently illegally evicted from the home we had been living in for almost 9 years in Los Angeles. The landlords who wanted to raise the rent in that unit by an incredible amount decided that after falling behind a month's rent, that they were no longer going to accept our rent and close us out of the App Portal. The City of Los Angeles Department of Housing and every other official that we spoke to informed us that these were illegal actions that are considered "bullying", and they asked us not to self-evict, even though we were given notices. Ultimately, the landlords won in court, and my mom and I were served with a 5-day notice to vacate the premises. (BTW, this is happening all over parts of California).

Fast forward to July, where we have been living from motel to motel, waiting to hear back from an affordable housing unit in Santa Monica, directly across the street from where I work. I was referred to the unit by a colleague, and I reached out to them, and under the graces of the heavens, they have units and are willing to take us, even though our credit scores aren't that great (we've taken out loans that we're paying back from during the pandemic to stay housed in the former apartment due to a loss in salary.) The landlord showed us all available units, and we selected one of the studios (very small but super affordable for our pockets). The landlord had me sign a holding deposit agreement before running a credit check, in where we would have been paying around $2,500. After the credit check was run, they asked for a considerable amount more money, around $4,000, that would be for first month's security deposit. We agreed to the terms, as we had been waiting in one particular motel for so long for something to break for us, that we were just about at the end of the 30-day limit that the hotel could allow for us to stay.

We signed another agreement for the payment of almost $4,000, and we were told that we would wait for an email to see if we were even approved for the rental. We waited and waited, knowing that our time at the motel was soon coming to an end, when we finally gave the landlord a call. The landlord had completely forgotten about us! She reached out to her manager, and we had to wait even longer to find out if we had the unit. I kept contacting the property through phone calls and emails, and they just kept telling us that we had to wait until they knew something. At this time, we were using up the 403(b) money that I dipped into to pay for hotels so that we weren't living on the streets.

At last, we received the email that said we were approved, and that there was a "checklist" for us (this was all written in the email). We had to get renter's insurance, we had to have SoCal Edison turn on the electricity in the unit, and that the full payment of almost $4,000 was due before or on the day of August 27th. We were elated because we had $2,400 left of my 403(b) money that we were to give to them immediately. The remainder of the money was to be given to them as soon as both my mother and I were paid, which was on the following Wednesday and Thursday (this all happened on Friday, August 9th).

We got the Lemonade renter's insurance, we set up the SoCal Edison for the unit, and we were all packed up and ready to go. We had a friend drive us all the way from the motel to the apartment. As soon as we arrived in the leasing office, the landlord asked, "Do you have the money order?" What money order was she talking about? Not the one due on August 27th. Yes, because according to the landlord, this was a typo in the email and a mistake that she's done several times before, but her manager excused her actions and still wanted us to have the money by 6:00 that evening or we could not get the place, and they would put the unit back on the market.

The landlord allowed me and my mom to sit on the patio of the building and try to find a way to get the remainder of the money. They weren't even willing to accept the larger portion that we already had. It was all or nothing. My mom and I tried calling our banks to see if we could get loans, we called family and friends; I even asked my job! No one could help (understandably) as that's quite a bit of a chunk to ask anyone. After sitting on the patio for almost an entire day (my mom is a 70-year-old breast cancer survivor with neuropathy and scoliosis), somewhere after 5:30pm, we realized that this move was not going to happen, and even if we miraculously received any additional money, trying to get a money order was going to be practically impossible. I spoke to the landlord and told her that we were going to have to decline the unit because there was no way that we would be able to get the money. The landlord confided in me and told me that she believed the only reason her manager didn't want to work with us was because we were the "last" affordable housing unit that they were willing to take in that building, and if we were "regular" paying tenants, they would have given us the time to pay, no questions asked.

We were told, by some very knowledgeable Santa Monicans that these actions were, also, illegal, because this is not how the affordable housing program is supposed to run. We were told to reach out to the Consumer Affairs department of Santa Monica. With a little bit of investigative work, the landlords have decided to finally honor their mistake by allowing us to be able to move into the unit, as long as we have the full amount available before or on the day of August 27th with keys ready. Great solution! What's the problem? My entire 403(b) was spent on hotel stays, food and other necessities, including credit checks and transportation for other apartments in hopes that someone would take a chance on us.

Now, we are asking for help, to be able to get the money back that these landlords were not willing to take prior, but this is the best solution that my mom and I have in order to not be living on the streets. Many would say, "Why even waste your time with this place?" Quite honestly, we wouldn't if we had more money and better credit scores to find something else. A dear friend and colleague have allowed us to stay in their beautiful home for a week, but after Friday night/Saturday morning, we're back in a hotel in where I can only afford one more night in. I am so exhausted, anxious, and overstressed from what this situation has done. Even more importantly, to hear my mother (pictured), my best friend in the world, the strongest woman I've ever known say that she's ready to throw in the towel pulls me in 2 different directions: wanting to fight harder or wanting to give up, myself.

We would be so grateful for whatever you can give.

Thank you so much!