A single mother and her 9 children, the youngest only 5 months old, could be homeless by Christmas. This morning the family was evicted from their home in the Port Loyola area and though they are back in that house tonight, that's hardly any consolation for Lisa Neal. Here is her story.
Keith Swift Reporting,
This morning we met 35-year-old Lisa Neal sobbing and holding her 5 month old son on the steps of the house at number 7317 Arlington Drive. She along with her 9 children and all their possessions are in the front yard of where was once home.
Lisa Neal, Evicted
"I don't have no where, nowhere at all to go. I don't what I will do."
Its no longer home because just before 10 am two bailiffs from the Attorney General's Ministry came to enforce an eviction. By order of the court, she and
her children and all the belongings were to be removed from the house. While her son lingered inside playing with toys that had been lost beneath the furniture, this mother contemplated their grim fate.
Lisa Neal,
"When the police came this morning me and my two sons and my daughter were watching TV and getting ready to clean up and they told me they came for me to take out everything out of my house right now. So that is where we started to do."
And that meant everything: her kitchen appliances like the stove and refrigerator, her bed, her baby's crib, all their of clothes, and even this Christmas tree which the family planned to setup today. But there'll be no Christmas for the Neals, at least not in this house. If the court order stands, her house at number 7317 Arlington Drive will remain like this - empty.
Lisa Neal,
"I am out ah door now. I don't have anywhere to go. I have all my kids and I don't have nowhere to go. Right now the rest of my children are at school and they don't even know this is happening."
Why doesn't she have anywhere to go? Well for answers went to her area representative: the Honorable Anthony "Boots" Martinez.
Hon. Anthony "Boots" Martinez, Port Loyola Area Rep.
"This constituent has been thrown out of here and it was orchestrated by Dolores Balderamos Garcia."
Boots got the house for Lisa in 2003 and this affidavit from the then owner Allyson Baird gave her permission to live in the house for 5 years. But in November of 2004 the land's leasee changed and the new owner took Neal to court. 'Boots' Martinez believes the former area rep. Is involved and he says shame on her.
Keith Swift,
Where will Miss Lisa and her kids sleep tonight?
Hon. Anthony "Boots" Martinez,
"Right in the house."
Keith Swift,
They told them they cannot be in the house.
Hon. Anthony "Boots" Martinez,
"This is about morality. How can you have a three or four month old child sleeping out there? Dolores should try, if she wants to make proper provision, take them to her house. She caused the play in this whole thing. How can you do that to poor people? How in the world can you do that to poor people?"
And at least for tonight Lisa got an answer, before we left Arlington Drive Lisa and her neighbors started to move her belongings back into the house. One can only guess how long 7317 Arlington Drive will continue to be home.
"Boots" Martinez says the family will remain in the house until February when he finds a long term solution. Lisa Neal is actually the mother of 10 kids but one of her sons went missing years ago. We were unable to get any comment from the former Area Representative Dolores Balderamos Garcia.
