The Eviction Notice
Monday, March 6, 2006

Dear Friends:

I am writing this blog in a state of agitation and anger. Our apartment is subsidized by FEMA. When my brother and I were approved for one year of FEMA housing assistance in October, the apartment complex we moved into (Summer Park Duplexes in Stafford, Texas) accepted the voucher and we signed a year lease agreement. A couple of weeks ago, I found out that our apartment complex was bought out by a new management company (Waterstone Place). They no longer want to accept FEMA payments and want all FEMA residents to vacate their property. I was hand-delivered an eviction notice, notifying me that I had to vacate the premises by March 30. T he paperwork said that my lease ended March 31, 2006. When I told the asistant manager that I signed a year lease and showed her the paperwork, she said that she would look into it. I never heard back from the new management.

Today, at around 3:00 p.m., property management delivered another eviction notice saying that I owed nearly $500 plus late fees and that we had to vacate the property by midnight on Wednesday, March 8, 2006. I am in Illinois touring and my mother-in-law is taking care of the kids in my absence. My mother-in-law faxed the paperwork to my husband in New Orleans and he emailed the documents to me.

Needless to say, I am livid. I contacted FEMA and they advised me to contact FEMA's legal department in the morning. This is insult to injury! On top of everything we have been through, we are now faced with the real possibility of eviction. My brother and his ex-wife, who live in the same complex, have not received these notices. Why are they still able to live there while my girls and I are being thrown out?!

At this point, the girls only have two and a half months of school left. We cannot return home yet. They need to finish school in Texas. Eliana is in her third school this year and is already on her fourth!!! kindergarten teacher (the first one was in New Orleans, the second one was in the neighborhood where we lived temporarily with our friends, the third one was in her current school but had to leave due to health issues, and now she has a new kindergarten teacher at her third school).

I have to contact the new apartment management tomorrow to try to solve this. I hope everything works out for us, otherwise, my children and I may end up homeless again. I feel like tearing my hair out!

Please say a prayer for us.

Warmly,
Dianne de Las Casas