Letter to public officials

 Join us today to deliver this message to officials at HUD and IHDA, 12PM, Dearborn and Jackson.

We represent a broad community of Chicagoans who stand together with the Bledsoe family.  Enclosed, please find over 500 signatures of people from across Chicago that want the eviction case dropped and for the family to stay in their home.  On October 8, 2009 the entire family may face homelessness if Northpoint management prevails in its Dickensian mission to kick orphans out of their homes.  Please re-examine this case and force Northpoint to dismiss their suit. 

As you may know, the case involves three minor children, ages 9, 11 and 14, and their aunt, Erica Bledsoe.  The grandmother and guardian of the children, Rosetta Bledsoe (also Erica’s mother), died unexpectedly approximately one year ago due to a stroke – she was only 49.  Rosetta had been the children’s primary caregiver and mother, in effect, for at least eight years; the children are listed as tenants on the lease documents in the year 2000.  Erica, the aunt, is now the children’s legal guardian. 

On October 13, 2008, within six weeks of the death of Rosetta Bledsoe, Northpoint issued a “Demand for Immediate Possession” to the family.  The company told them that they all needed to get out immediately since Rosetta was dead, despite the fact that the children were listed on the lease.  When Northpoint filed the suit, they didn’t name the children, but instead listed them as “unknown occupants.” That Northpoint refused to acknowledge the children’s right to their home of nearly ten years defies both common sense and human decency. Despite legal precedent, Northpoint refuses to put Erica’s name on the apartment lease.

It is astonishing that federal tax dollars are being spent on both sides in litigation that never should have been filed in the first place.  If Northpoint wins, federal tax dollars will have been used to push innocent children into homelessness, at a time of great economic duress. 

We firmly believe that the well being of this family and our community is worth fighting for.  We hope that your agency agrees that these unjust and callous assaults against the family have gone too far.  We urge you, as stewards of federal tax dollars, to step up and stop this by getting Northpoint to dismiss their vicious lawsuit voluntarily before October 8 and allowing the family to stay in their home. 

Sincerely,

The Committee to Support the Bledsoe Family