(wind rushing) (birds chirping) (calming music) - [Woman with glasses] I gotta do it.

- Don't be stingy now.

You're not funny at all.

- How many letters is in love?

(both laughing) (both laughing) - Oh, you're hilarious.

How many letters are in- - I have six children.

Three are foster.

That's enough for you.

Bucko.

That's enough.

I'm a mom of children that are disabled.

I'm very involved with them and their lives.

I take care of my mom always.

Remember when I was seven years old and you said that my head was your head and you could do whatever you wanted.

- To me (talking faintly).

(woman laughing) - She's the strongest person I know and I really look up to her.

My strong willpower and everything, I got that from my mom.

- Look at me.

- You're, you're an actor.

- Even though there are certain things that's supposed to be in place to protect familiar status, that's not necessarily true in what area you live in, in Illinois.

I told you that was enough.

So as a former member on the Section Eight Program, which is really the Housing Choice Voucher Program, always paid my rent on time.

Issues started maybe two years after we moved into our home.

If the landlord has it in their contract that you have to make repairs, if you want to keep your voucher, believe you me, you're going to make repairs.

I've saved every receipt and I have proof of everything that I've paid for.

Things started getting bad.

The water bill, went over a $1000 a couple of times because the plumbing was bad.

The electrical completely outdated.

That's why I'm paying six, $700 light bills.

This is the initial letter that pretty much started everything.

I had family members that needed to be put into my custody for foster care.

Well DCFS came and wrote a letter saying what my landlord needed to fix.

The carpet needed to be removed.

The plumbing needed to be repaired immediately to satisfy the home for the children to be placed in my custody.

The landlord didn't respond within 30 days so I had to spend my money to get the work done.

I spent about $15,000 getting that house ready.

Still dealing with everyday life.

Still paying the bills, still paying the rent on time.

After 11 years, I never would have thought that the landlord would have actually taken me to court and had us evicted.

I paid my rent on time and I paid for the repairs to the home and got every receipt to prove it.

The judge did not want to see my receipts.

The only thing she said to me was, "Yeah, but they want you out."

The agreement in court was that we leave by March the 16th.

My landlord showed up on March the 15th, changed the locks and kicked me off the property.

I was not allowed to come and get my stuff.

Clothing, very important documents, social security numbers, birth certificates.

It's ironic because March the 16th is the day that the governor shut down the state for COVID.

And we pretty much had to start over from scratch.

Here's the block that I was raised on.

My grandmother had a big home, immaculate.

It feels like home.

This is always home.

This is where I learned everything.

How to ride a bike, how to roller skate.

It was just amazing how close the neighborhood, the neighbors were.

My grandmother always wanted to keep her home just in case any of her kids or grandkids got into trouble.

They'd always have a place to come to, always.

With everything that I'm going through, that I've went through, I understand why it was so important to keep her home.

My kids will always have a place to call home.

No one would be able to put them out.

(sad music) (woman sighs) Everything my grandmother talked about.

It's like, it's all I'm seeing.

I'm living.

What she talked about, I really didn't understand.

I'm like you pay your rent nobody's going to put you out.

I thought people only got put out because they didn't pay rent.

That's absolutely not true and she knew that.

That's what I take from her.

The importance of having your own home.

I had always continued to look for housing and was denied when I called.

Evergreen Park, where I live, it's always had the stigma of being racist.

Every time I'd call for a property in Evergreen Park, the realtors would immediately tell me, Section Eight is not welcome over here.

No one would take a voucher for me to live in this area to continue to live.

So I had to give up my voucher because it wasn't benefiting me.

It really wasn't benefiting me.

Evergreen Park is a hard place to live, but it's the right place for me to be to raise my children.

Evergreen Park has the best school system for my disabled son.

In Chicago, every school is segregated.

He needs to be socialized.

They all need to be socialized.

My kids are going to get the best education to be able to compete in life, period.

And that's what it's about for me.

I've been dealing with a whole lot, as a black mother, living here.

They pretty much let you know that they really don't want you here but I'm not going anywhere.

I am a housing activist.

We need that positive yes, we don't want to assume a yes.

So we're making progress.

It's just slowly but surely, we got to make this happen.

It's time to start talking to our legislators.

I'm with Working Family Solidarity and Chicago Housing Justice League, our coalition, we're fighting for the just cause for eviction.

- Appreciate it.

- Working to get the legislations passed, which is the just cause for eviction.

The source of income bill, where people won't be discriminated against for their source of income when they're trying to rent property.

And that's very much a real problem as well.

Housing choice vouchers, emergency housing choice voucher holders.

We want to talk to her about the just cause for eviction.

- That's fine.

- I tried to appeal to them as a human being.

Have a good day.

I am in the middle of purchasing my first home, we're waiting for the underwriter to clear us to close.

And there it is.

God willing, I'll be a first time homeowner.

Ain't it beautiful.

- There's nothing like having your own.