Eviction

The Baltimore County Department of Social Services has received $45,000 in public and private grants to help low income residents avoid eviction.The grants come at a time when evictions are increasing in the county and when the state is poised to cut a program that has steered thousands of Marylanders through emergencies such as eviction.Reacting to these new problems, the County Council last week approved a measure that would move $20,000 from a federal Emergency Food and Shelter Program to the Social Services Department.

As a 44 year resident of Baltimore City, I cannot think of a better use of my taxes than paying to temporarily house the homeless individuals who are about to be evicted by the city from their meager camp in motels while they wait for permanent housing ("Homeless eviction plan criticized," March 5). Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's comments that doing so is "not a responsible use of taxpayer money," and Councilwoman Rikki Spector's reference to the camp as "toxic," made this proud resident of Baltimore feel shame that publicly elected officials would so openly demonstrate their contempt and lack of compassion for our most vulnerable citizens.

The University of Maryland Extension is holding an eviction-prevention workshop Friday in Baltimore that will cover energy cost reduction, basic financial planning and other subjects. The free event — to be held from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Pleasant View Gardens, 201 N. Aisquith St. — is aimed at renters and those who need tips on helping tenants, such as social workers. jhopkins@baltsun.com twitter.com/RealEstateWonk Text BUSINESS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Business text alerts

As a Friday deadline approaches, advocates are working to find housing for the homeless men and women living at a Baltimore encampment set to be cleared. Christina Flowers, president of Belvedere Homes, stopped by the site between Interstate 83 and the Fallsway on Wednesday with a promise to find housing for those who want it. She said her organization secured a three-bedroom house in the Harwood neighborhood to accommodate six of the roughly 18 men and women at the encampment. "At this point, it's just about being able to move forward," said Flowers, whose organization on North Charles Street provides housing for those who are homeless, suffer from disabilities or have a mental illness.

I am so proud of Baltimore and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. The recent ouster of the Occupy protesters from McKeldin Square was carried out peacefully and calmly ("Occupy Baltimore seeks new goals," Dec. 14). This is in stark contrast to the storm trooper tactics used in other cities. Our mayor and police department are to be congratulated. The protesters behaved well because they were treated respectfully. Too bad Baltimore did not make the national news for handling this situation in a humane manner.

As eviction day loomed, 79-year-old Ruth Hearn lived in an upstairs bedroom of her cold, dark home, using oil lamps for light. By her reckoning, her family had worked the 124-acre Wincopia Farms in Southeastern Howard County for six or seven generations. Before her husband's death in 1996, they grew flowers for the White House grounds; more recently, Ruth and her daughter Emily had dreamed of expanding the business with a botanical garden. But the $4.5 million loan they took out in 2002 had ballooned to a $13 million debt that they could never repay, and in 2008, lender Gourley & Gourley LLC foreclosed.

Getting evicted from one's home is one of the worst things that can happen to anyone. But the misery is compounded when all of one's belongings, having been dumped on the curbside, are then hauled away to be destroyed.For years, Baltimore has tried to mitigate the indignity of eviction by putting the furniture and other belongings into storage for up to 30 days; during that time the property could be reclaimed at no charge. Now the city says it can no longer afford this small gesture of compassion.

The eviction of Occupy Baltimore protesters from a park near the Inner Harbor was carried out "in a respectful way," Baltimore's mayor said this morning, adding that she was pleased there were no injuries or arrests. "It certainly wasn't going to go on forever and we decided it was time," Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said after a ground-breaking for a housing development in Fells Point. She added, "This is not about the [Occupy] message … The message resonates with me. It resonates with people across the country.

Even after Jean Thomas lost her job and her husband, Sherman, became ill, she said she never missed paying the rent on the West Baltimore house the couple shares with their daughter and four young grandchildren. Yet after seven years in the rent-subsidized, four-bedroom rowhouse on North Fremont Avenue, the family is bracing to be evicted Tuesday morning. "I won't have a choice but to leave," said Jean Thomas, adding that her family has nowhere to go. "It's hard to find a place if you don't have a job. " Thomas blames the situation on the actions of her two adult sons.

Baltimore joined several other cities from Boston to Los Angeles by sending in the police to disband occupiers who have taken over town squares. Like some but unlike many, Baltimore police evicted more than three dozen protesters and homeless people without making a single arrest. Nearly two dozen were sent to homeless shelters, and police in riot gear acted responsibly and with restraint. Protesters left without any trouble. The picture has been radically different across the country.

Pat and Henry Bradley say their landlord decided to suddenly kick them out of his waterfront Dundalk house, changing the locks while they were still frantically trying to remove their belongings. The couple, who didn't have a lease, are to testify about their experience in Annapolis this week when House and Senate members convene hearings to decide whether to stop landlords and property owners from locking out residents without court orders and sheriff's deputies on standby to evict them.

As Jean Thomas helped her husband load furniture and boxes into a U-Haul truck parked outside their West Baltimore home Tuesday afternoon, she worried that she'd run out of time. She had lost a fight to stay in the rent-subsidized rowhouse on North Fremont Avenue where she and her husband, Sherman, had lived for seven years, recently with their daughter and four young grandchildren. Sheriff's deputies could arrive any minute to lock them out. The eviction deadline was Tuesday.

Even after Jean Thomas lost her job and her husband, Sherman, became ill, she said she never missed paying the rent on the West Baltimore house the couple shares with their daughter and four young grandchildren. Yet after seven years in the rent-subsidized, four-bedroom rowhouse on North Fremont Avenue, the family is bracing to be evicted Tuesday morning. "I won't have a choice but to leave," said Jean Thomas, adding that her family has nowhere to go. "It's hard to find a place if you don't have a job. " Thomas blames the situation on the actions of her two adult sons.

Those who rely on mainstream media to tell them what's happening can be forgiven for coming to the same opinion as ex-Gov. Robert Ehrlich, who wrote in his recent column "Capitalism on trial" that the Occupy movement has disintegrated. While aggressive law enforcement has prevented Occupy in many cities from re-establishing a prolonged and public presence, activists have put their energy to use by linking with community and neighborhood activists to fight the most visible footprint of the speculative 1 percent: foreclosed-upon homes.

The University of Maryland Extension is holding an eviction-prevention workshop Friday in Baltimore that will cover energy cost reduction, basic financial planning and other subjects. The free event — to be held from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Pleasant View Gardens, 201 N. Aisquith St. — is aimed at renters and those who need tips on helping tenants, such as social workers. jhopkins@baltsun.com twitter.com/RealEstateWonk Text BUSINESS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Business text alerts

Before Denver's participation in the Eastern College Athletic Conference in 2010, there was Loyola, winner of two consecutive league championships. But the Greyhounds have never won the ECAC tournament, which has been claimed by the Pioneers in 2010 and 2011. So No. 3 Loyola finally has a shot Friday night, meeting No. 18 Fairfield in the tournament final in Denver. It's a rematch of last year's tournament semifinal in which the Stags emerged with a 10-9 decision and a trip to the final.

y've lost their jobs, their savings and sometimes their cars.As unemployment insurance begins to run out, tensions rise and self-esteem lags. And then, the final blow hits.The eviction notice arrives.For many people hit hard by the recession and recent layoffs, word that they are about to be put out on the street is more than they can take, housing counselors say."Some people really come unglued," said Bertina A. Nick, a housing counselor with the Anne Arundel Community Action Agency. "Lots of peopleare frozen with fear.

NEW ORLEANS -- All over this city, from brick apartment complexes in the east to crumbling stucco low-rises in the center, constables have been busy tacking eviction notices to often-empty apartments. Landlords, many of them starved for rent and fearing foreclosure, have been trying to evict tenants who escaped New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. And that has pitted them against jobless and cash-poor tenants in a fierce race for survival that began playing out yesterday in the city's only functional civil courthouse.

In Baltimore one man is about to lose half of his cat family. And he'd like your help. Matt writes Unleashed: My name is Matt and I have 4 wonderful cats!  I am contacting you, because I am having some issues with my landlord in regards to the cats, and was wondering if you may have some advice, or know someone who may be able to help... In short; I was forced to contact a city inspector to have my apartment inspected for any code violations.  The landlord has since received the inspectors report; outlining several code violations, and is retaliating.