On Tuesday, friends and family helped Phebie Seay move out of the Charlottesville home she's lived in for 20 years. Seay says she's been wrongly evicted from her public housing unit.
Tuesday afternoon, a crowd rallied around 63-year-old "Mrs. C," as she's commonly known on South First Street. The Charlottesville Public Housing Association of Residents, PHAR, says three people have been evicted from public housing units in the last week.
Brandon Collins with PHAR said, "We've had enough of the bullying by the CRHA. We've had enough of the lack of customer service, enough of the lack of respect for residents."
Seay says she's being evicted because she wanted her granddaughter on her lease. But court records obtained by NBC29 show Seay owed The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority (CRHA) $329.00 from June 2012, and that's why she's being kicked out.
It isn't the first time Seay has had a rent issue. Court records show she owed money to the CRHA in 2008 and again in 2010. PHAR organizer says they tried to pay off everything Seay owed last Friday but were told no.
Deirdre Gilmore, a PHAR organizer, said, "They still wouldn't take the rent. They said it was too late."
Citing confidentiality issues, CRHA's Executive Director says they can't talk about Seay's record, but they maintain that proper eviction procedures and laws were followed in the case. The housing authority says it had the right to kick Seay out on Friday, but gave her until Tuesday as a courtesy.
Seay said, "It hurts. It really hurts."
Seay will be staying with her father in Fluvanna County in the meantime.
