“Neither my family or any other family should be treated this way.”

My name is Tanisha Diggs and our family (The Yeboah family) was served eviction papers February 2020 from our building’s management company in Aurora, Colorado.

The management team cited non-payment of rent. Yet we have a receipt that states we paid for that month. We appeared in court to answer the papers when their attorney tried to urge us to pay more or be evicted.

As you know with COVID19 becoming the pandemic that the world was facing, the courts were closed to proceedings. However, not before their attorney called to threaten us further and stated that she could say anything she wanted and the conversation could not be mentioned in court.

After rejecting their offer from the attorney, the court opened in June and our case was heard by the judge. She ruled in their favor citing a holdover clause that was in the lease agreement. Yet she did not address the case in totality, ignoring the facts about the fraudulent lease and the other matters in the case.

My husband and I did not agree and felt the judge was biased because we did not have an attorney to represent our family.

It was to our discovery that the apartment complex staff had fraudulently presented a lease to the court. We had their evidence further analyzed by a document forensic expert analysis who stated the document was forged. The management company had lifted my signature and my spouse’s signature and placed it on a lease and testified under oath in court that we signed this alleged lease agreement.

We have not signed a lease agreement with the management company since 2017, because there were so many health code violations and safety matters that we reported and repeatedly expressed concern for to management.

Our case is still in the appeal process and we have tried to find a place to go, but with COVID19 and now an eviction on our record it’s impossible, so we fight for justice and a roof over our heads. We have two special needs children and only one income at this time that keep us afloat.

The management staff are gauging other tenants for higher prices for rent due to pests, which they are responsible to take care of as the landlord. I have documented proof that I’m allergic to roaches and it aggravates my asthma. This issue still persists.

During this process, I lost 2 family members to COVID19 and I was not able to grieve because we were too busy trying to maintain a roof over our heads. In addition to this my spouse’s employment hours decreased which meant he brings home less and our family has had to rely on local food banks to help feed our family in the midst of the pandemic.

Neither my family or any other family should be treated this way. We may be poor, but we are humans and we deserve to live in a safe environment where we can raise our children and not have to worry about health and safety matters.

I want justice for my family and all the families who reside in this complex who have been railroaded and wrongfully evicted for gain and profit of slum lords and crooked management.

The Colorado Sun covered the Yeboah family’s journey to avoid eviction in an article that you can read here: https://coloradosun.com/2020/06/19/colorado-evictions-moratorium-coronavirus/.

If you’ve made it to the bottom of this story and want to help, click here to send a letter to your state representatives (it’ll only take a minute), asking them to pass eviction court reform so families like the Yeboahs are better protected: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/its-time-for-eviction-reform?source=direct_link.