El Diario

95 percent of the Montealegres belongings

"The whole marshal encounter was surreal," Andres Mares Muro said about Maria Montealegre's eviction that went down late afternoon this past Monday. "She vomited afterwards, her kids wept lots."

Muro, a former staff member of the Mirabal Sisters Cultural and Community Center in Hamilton Heights, has been helping Montealegre, and her family, throughout her housing/eviction situation since the beginning, exchanged texts with the Voice throughout Monday evening informing us that after going to various shelters, and being turned away, Montealegre and her kids ended up in a Queens motel.

After we reported that neither Mirabal, Public Advocate, Urban Justice Center, Housing Preservation Department, nor Councilmember Robert Jackson, did little to help Montealegre avoid eviction or attain housing--let alone take over 1985 Amsterdam Ave. or hold Moshe Samovha accountable for his multiple housing violations, we got some angry phone calls. More »

Steven Thrasher

Maria Montealegre, the tenant at 1985 Amsterdam Avenue who was assaulted by her landlord and evicted after helping organize neighbors, has been evicted today. A marshal showed up roughly around 4 this afternoon, leaving 95 percent of her, and her family's, belongings on the sidewalk.

A bevy of people from "community groups" -- mostly from the Mirabal Center -- came to a press conference outside her building. Despite the presence of many people in yellow Mirabal shirts, no one had a real plan in place, nor anywhere for Montealegre and her four kids to go tonight.

And though Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Councilmember Robert Jackson's offices seemed like they might get heavily involved in recent days, neither were there today.

In fact, almost everyone who has ever said they were trying to help Montealegre is doing little more than to wait for her to actually get evicted, put on the street, and to be put into the homeless-shelter system after she's actually homeless.

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Arlene Gottfried

A week since we reported on Maria Montealegre, an undocumented immigrant who faces eviction for making complaints against one of the worst landlords in Manhattan, she might be well on her way to becoming a legal immigrant.

The Washington Heights resident, along with Andres Mares Muro (from the Mirabal Center) visited the Mexican Consulate and were told that Montealegre qualifies for a "U visa," which would make it easier for her and her family to get into a shelter.

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Shortly after Araceli Cruz and Steven Thrasher told the story of Maria Montealegre, a mother of four who faces eviction for standing up to her landlord, an online campaign has been organized to save the family from homelessness.

Remember that Montealegre's landlord Moshe Samova -- ranked 12th on Public Advocate Bill de Blasio's watchlist of New York's worst slumlords -- started eviction proceedings against Montealegre after she organized tenants to get him to repair and clean the building.

Though she is looking for a new apartment, Cruz and Thrasher report that no one will rent a room to Montealegre and her entire family. She has repeatedly been turned away because "landlords say she is listed as a bad renter."

If she does not find a home by July 31, she will likely go to a shelter with her children, and fears their schooling will suffer as a result.

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