Uncle evicts family of 7 from San Juan house

A family of seven has been suddenly evicted from the house they have called home for the past year.

Lauren Maloney, 27, and her four children, aged two, four, six and seven, along with her mother and brother, had been living with her maternal uncle for the past year. The family’s Laventille home was destroyed by fire on June 7 last year.

After spending one night with a cousin living nearby, Maloney said her uncle told her they were welcome to stay at a house he owns at Laventille Road in San Juan.

“He said we could stay there until we get back on our feet," said Maloney. "But how you expect people to get back on their feet in a year?

"He is telling people he never offered to have us stay, but he did.”

Maloney said she has been out of work since being let go from her contract job at Subway in 2018. Her brother, she said, works intermittently with a manufacturing company.

On Saturday morning, Maloney said, her uncle came to the house at 8.30 with a bailiff to put the family out. She said all their belongings were put in a truck and taken to the bottom of the hill where the house stands.

She said their furniture, appliances and a TV, among other things, were all drenched in the rain over the weekend.

The family has since taken shelter at the home of a cousin who lives nearby.

“I don’t know why he did it,” Maloney said, but she added that she believes her uncle did not want her aunt (his sister) coming to the house. Her aunt would frequently visit them and sometimes stay there too.

“They have their own thing going on, but we tried to tell him she is family,” said Maloney.

She said the house was left in her grandmother's will, along with seven other properties, all occupied by other relatives. Her uncle got two of them, sold one and is trying to sell the one he occupies.

“My grandmother meant this house to be a place for family to go in emergencies, like if a house burn down,” she said.

She has been trying to get a job, and another apartment for her family, but has been unsuccessful, saying people are reluctant to rent her a home during the pandemic. “We can’t stay by my cousin forever."

Maloney is asking the HDC to help her family get a home. Anyone who would like to assist the family can contact Lauren Maloney at 792-3357.