Single Mother of Five Keeps Home

Gabriella Ruiz* is a a single mother raising five children and a monolingual Spanish speaker. Two of her children have disabilities, so their family depends on SSI, CalWORKS, and part-time IHSS work to live. Following Gabriella’s divorce last year, she began experiencing health issues and was hospitalized. She became unable to work for a short while, causing the family to fall behind on rent. Right away, the family’s landlord began the eviction process.

On September 11th, Gabriella walked through the doors of Inner City Law Center. Her trail was scheduled for September 15th. By September 13, our lawyers had negotiated a payment plan and settlement with Gabriella’s landlord, convincing him to dismiss the entire case! On September 14, only days after Inner City Law Center took on the client (and before her landlord had even received payment), the case was dismissed.

The landlord has now provided Gabriella with a new lease agreement. Unfortunately, the new agreement contained a massive rent increase. Right now, our lawyers are investigating this as a violation of rental increase laws and trying to negotiate a lower rent for Gabriella’s family. Our lawyers are also working to secure future rental assistance for Gabriella’s family and arranging to have their rent debt paid off. With just a little help and some breathing room, Gabriella can focus on getting her health and finances sorted so her family can get back on their feet.

* Names have been changed and photos may not depict ICLC clients. We take client privacy seriously and make these changes to protect client confidentiality.