74-year-old Boyle Heights woman being forced out of home: Here's why
LOS ANGELES - After living in her Boyle Heights triplex for 38 years, a 74-year-old woman is being forced out for a new housing development.
"All of a sudden, our lives are upside down," Teresa Villanueva said. She now faces the sad reality of having to pack up and leave.
The property she’s rented for nearly four decades was sold to a developer who informed her that they plan to demolish the building. Therefore, her time living at the property has come to an end.
"Words can’t explain how I feel inside," her daughter, Mary, said.
Mary added what’s happened to her beloved Boyle Heights in recent years is gentrification.
Developers have been purchasing old homes and are getting rid of long-term tenants through the Ellis Act, a California law originally intended to allow small landlords to retire by evicting tenants from rent-controlled units.
A&R Investments LLC, the new owner of the triplex that Villanueva has been renting, told FOX 11 they plan to build a 46-unit affordable housing complex. However, Teresa and Mary remain skeptical.
Villanueva was paying $500 a month in rent. Now, she says, renting a small apartment in Boyle Heights will cost her $2,200 a month.
"Now, I have to work extra because otherwise, we’re not going to make it," she said.
The developer says they gave Villanueva 14 months’ notice and they will pay her to move out.