- Part 1 Staying Sheltered
- Part 2 How California renters are bracing for an eviction tsunami
- Part 3 Job loss, rent increase tow a single mother’s finances under
- Part 4 Gasping for air in the face of eviction
- Part 5 Losing out on work so her son can learn
- Part 6 Better off than before, even as the rent goes up
- Part 7 Finally, rent relief for a graduate starting out in the job market
- Part 8 Putting her children before the fields
- Part 9 Living without a job and under the harassment of the landlord
Alonso Ceceñas
City: Los Angeles, Los Angeles County
Race/Ethnicity: Latino
Occupation: Construction worker
Alonso and his wife have been unable to afford rent during the pandemic. They share a one-bedroom apartment with their four children.
For Alonso Ceceñas and his wife, Yadira Michel, March will mark a year without being able to pay the rent for a small one-bedroom apartment they share with their four children in South Los Angeles. The hardest thing is the constant harassment of the homeowner who lives next to them, separated only by a wall.
“He cut off the power, takes the power out of the outlets,” Ceceñas said. “Also, he lowers the boiler temperature to the lowest so that we cannot receive hot water in the shower. Any noise we make bothers him and has even threatened to report us to immigration.”
The couple had always paid the rent on time, but everything changed when the pandemic began in March 2020. Alfonso, who makes his living as a construction laborer, was left without a job because the company he used to work closed its doors. Now he says he works “one day I get a job, another not.”
The Mexican immigrants are parents to Geraldine, 16; Daisy, 12; Kaylie, 10; and Manuel, 3.
They pay $900 a month for a place they have called home for 10 years. The tiny apartment is part of a house the owner converted into five units, including one where the landlord lives.
Inside, everything is too small: a mini living room, a mini kitchen, a mini bedroom and a bathroom that barely fits one person. The bedroom fits one bed for the three girls to sleep. The parents sleep in the living room with their youngest.
Ceceñas says there was friction with the landlord even before the pandemic.
“He charged me for electricity and gas apart from the rent, but there were times when he wanted to charge me up to $400 every two months,” Ceceñas said.”It seemed too much for the small place we live in. He never wanted to show me the receipts for what he paid for electricity.”
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Tension has risen since the family stopped paying rent. Ceceñas says the owner taunts him, hoping the father will act out. Already, the landlord accused Ceceñas of pushing him and is now seeking a restraining order.
“He, the owner, is looking for any pretext to provoke us,” Ceceñas said. “He puts himself in front of me; he wants me to confront him and have reasons to accuse me. I always try to be relaxed, because already my children are worried and scared by his screams.”
Emerio Medina, the landlord, denied being hostile toward the Ceceñas, and said the tenants are using the pandemic as an excuse for not paying rent.
“Alonso is making money and he can prove it,” Medina said, declining further comment.
The Ceceñas family feels trapped.
“We want to leave because we cannot live under that type of harassment all the time,” the father said, “but it is not so easy to find a place in the middle of a pandemic, much less without a job.”
The family relies on food banks but government aid has been limited. They received a one-time grant of $300 for each child. In the coming weeks, the state will be sending out stimulus aid to millions of low-income families, regardless of immigation status, under the Golden State Stimulus package. What the family most wants is to find a housing attorney to help them work out an arrangement with the landlord.
Lupita González, a tenant advocate with the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, said since the landlord got a lawyer, the Ceceñas are getting help from a pro bono law firm and hope to reach some settlement. When it rains, water gets through the kitchen window and the family says mold is growing in the apartment.
“The Ceceñas’s children,” González said, “can’t continue living in an unhealthy place.”
This project is part of California Divide, a collaboration among newsrooms examining income inequality and economic survival in California.
Staying Sheltered
- Part 1 Staying Sheltered
- Part 2 How California renters are bracing for an eviction tsunami More than 2 million Californians are struggling to keep up with rent — many of them single mothers with at least some college education. The situation will be made worse as some unemployment benefits begin to expire after Christmas and landlords begin evicting Feb. 1. This report is part of a multi-month series from the California Divide.
- Part 3 Job loss, rent increase tow a single mother’s finances under Aleida lost all her work at the start of the coronavirus shutdown. After using up her entire savings to keep her daughter and nephew sheltered, she missed rent for the first time in her life.
- Part 4 Gasping for air in the face of eviction Patricia was already spending 75% of her take home pay on rent before the pandemic. Since losing her job as a medical transport driver, the single mother of two has fallen behind on rent.
- Part 5 Losing out on work so her son can learn In many ways, distance learning is keeping Teresa from making ends meet. The waitress can only work weekends when her son isn’t in class. She’s falling behind on rent and considering moving out of state.
- Part 6 Better off than before, even as the rent goes up Susan lost two of her three jobs at the start of California’s shelter-in-place order. She is just barely scraping by each month. Still, this once-homeless single mother says she feels rich compared to what she once had.
- Part 7 Finally, rent relief for a graduate starting out in the job market Maya and her girlfriend count themselves lucky to have received rent relief through the federal CARES Act. Now the pressure is on the recent graduate to get hired and stay on top of rent.
- Part 8 Putting her children before the fields Carolina lost work due to COVID-19 and has fallen behind on rent for a trailer she shares with her son and daughter. The single mother remains on a waiting list for undocumented immigrants in need of assistance.
- Part 9 Living without a job and under the harassment of the landlord Alonso and his wife have been unable to afford rent during the pandemic. They share a one-bedroom apartment with their four children.