Woman, 100, fights to keep home
Iris Canada’s home is cluttered, not with filth or trash, but with memories. Every nook and cranny is crammed with paintings by loved ones, along with records of her favorite music. Her walls are adorned with a photo of Martin Luther King Jr., as well as pictures of family members — many of whom she has long outlived.
At the age of 100, Canada continues to face eviction from her flat in the 600 block of Page Street in San Francisco’s Western Addition, the only place she has called home for more than half her life.
“I love my home. I enjoy my home,” said Canada, as she sat in her living room thumbing through family photo albums. “I’ve had a lot of good times.”
Last week, she received an eviction notice from the San Francisco Sheriff ’s Department that she says sent her heart racing, to the point that she ended up in a hospital for several days. Now back at home, she intends to keep up her battle to stay put.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge A. James Robertson — who has granted her nine stays since March, fending off the eviction — rejected her latest request for a 24-day stay on Monday. Canada’s lawyer, Dennis Zaragoza, said he will go to court on Tuesday and ask the judge for a sevenday stay.
About 11 years ago, Canada was granted a life estate by the owners of her building, Peter Owens, Stephen Owens and Carolyn Radisch. Under the agreement, Canada was allowed to live in the apartment for the rest of her life at a fixed rent of $700 a month as long as she was the sole occupant and was actively living there. Her name was also put on the deed, and she was given all rights of ownership.
While Canada has kept up with her rent payments, the reason for the eviction is because the building owners claim she has not been living at the unit, and is instead living in Oakland with her niece, Iris Merriouns. Merriouns slammed the claim as false. Furthermore, she said it is unfair that the life estate agreement did not grant Canada the option of buying her unit.
“I’m very frustrated that someone would take advantage of her to move their own desires forward,” Merriouns said. Peter Owens’ “handout was a rope around her neck.”
Canada’s legal battle to stay in her apartment started in 2013, when she refused to sign papers allowing the building to convert to condos. Peter Owens said the issue would be solved if Canada would sign the papers, but Merriouns won’t let her.
“This is in the niece’s interest so she can acquire the unit for a discounted price, and then when it’s converted to a condominium, she can sell it at a high rate,” Owens said. “We told her she could buy it after it’s become a condominium for $1.8 million, but she wants to buy it for $600,000.”
Merriouns said it’s not about her profiting off her aunt’s apartment, it’s about sticking up for an elderly woman who she believes was taken advantage of. She said it’s unreasonable that all the other residents in the building were given the opportunity to buy their units.
“It’s not that I don’t want to sell the unit to Iris,” Owens said. “I don’t want to sell it to anybody.”
The legal battle between Canada and the building owners hasn’t just affected their families; other residents in the six-unit building said they have felt the brunt of the fight, too.
Anna Munoz bought her unit in 2010 with her husband. And the holdup of the condo conversion has affected her family financially, she said. The condo conversion would allow her mortgage to have a fixed interest rate, but until that conversion happens, her interest rate can go up at any moment.
“It’s just about being able to afford my apartment here in San Francisco,” Munoz said. “On top of that, I also have a child, so expenses are really high.”
If Canada is evicted, the owners have agreed to waive about $100,000 in legal fees. But Merriouns said that she doesn’t believe the owner and that she fears her aunt will be on the hook for the fees.
“I am outraged, and I have the right to be outraged,” she said. “They should honor her life estate.”