Dozens of families who live on the first floor of the Highland View Apartments in National City have been displaced by the floods.
Now they are facing an uncertain future and are worried they have nowhere to go.
“Our biggest concern is not be left out in the street,” Jocelyn Lopez said.
This is the concern that dozens of tenants at Highland View Apartments in National City who lost everything in last Monday’s storm are facing.
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Landlords gave tenants 3 options
Man of them have received a letter from the property manager giving them three options:
- To stay at a hotel while paying rent
- Stay with a relative while repairs are being made
- Get the deposit and two months’ worth of rent and move out
Jocelyn Lopez is among those who were offered those three things.
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“Some people don’t know where to go, with all these rents spiking up, why move from their place of comfort where they’ve called home for many, many years?” Lopez said.
Lopez says the property manager has sent representatives but has not addressed their concerns.
“The managers aren’t helping us with anything,” Lopez said.
NBC 7 reached out to the property manager, but haven’t heard back.
A lawyer's perspective
A lawyer from the Legal Aid Society of San Diego NBC 7 spoke to said all tenants have the right to live in safe and habitable homes.
He said a landlords’ obligation to fulfill their duty shouldn’t change based on damages caused on the unit, adding that the landlord has the responsibility of providing alternative safe housing until the termination of the tenant’s contract.
Right now, Lopez, is staying in the second floor with her mother-in-law, but going up the stairs has not been easy because she injured herself during the flood.
“I have a fractured ankle, which is going to take me about two to three weeks to recover from and I have a four-month-old baby so I can’t be going up and down the stairs with her either,” Lopez said.
Lopez said her community is like family and they want to stay together.
“It’s depressing because how they’re trying to evict us, it’s tearing our community apart," Lopez said.
If you have any questions, you can call Legal Aid Society of San Diego at 1-877-LEGAL AID for advice.
