Home Sweet Home : Landlord Calls Eviction of Woman, 73, a Mistake, Lets Her Return

After spending two nights on her cousin’s couch, Jessie Davis went home Friday night after landlord William Little said her Wednesday eviction was all a big mistake.

Davis, a 73-year-old retired domestic, was packed up and moved out by Little’s eviction crew, even though she was willing and able to pay the $650 monthly rent on the two-bedroom house on the 1900 block of Rimpau Boulevard.

Little’s change of heart came Thursday night after several hours of talks with public interest lawyer Michael Feuer of Bet Tzedek Legal Services and some prodding from Councilman Nate Holden.

The councilman said he has asked the City Housing Authority for a report on how many properties Little has in the city’s Section 8 subsidized housing program.

“Then I’ll be looking at his style and behavior to see if it is satisfactory,” Holden said. Davis’ rented home is not in the Section 8 program.

“I’m feeling much better now,” Davis said in an interview Friday. Davis, who serves as block captain for the Neighborhood Watch program, has been living in the simple two-story house for two years and in the Mid-City neighborhood for many years.

“It feels good,” said Earl Renfroe, Davis’ 62-year-old roommate about the return home. “They took everything I own” in the eviction, said the retired race track worker. “Nothing like this ever happened to me, and I hope it never does again.”

Under terms of the agreement reached Friday, Davis and Renfroe will return to the house, their belongings will be returned at Little’s expense and their rent will remain at $650. “All our clients ever wanted was to be back home,” Feuer said.

Davis and Renfroe’s problems began in mid-August when Little won title to the property after a six-year legal battle with Cashman Investment Co. Questions over who owned the property led to delayed payment of September rent, and Little began eviction proceedings.

“The problem was, there was no communication,” said Little in an interview Friday.

Little, who specializes in buying properties out of foreclosure, also acknowledged that he is too busy to take on these fights.

‘Lead a Busy LIfe’

“I got to thinking about the situation,” Little said. “I lead a busy life. I decided I don’t want to be involved in this. Why do I need the aggravation?”

Earlier this month, Little, who said he owns several hundred properties in the Southland, attempted to evict ailing big band leader Woody Herman from his Hollywood Hills home for failure to pay four months’ rent. That action was stopped when fans of the jazz legend volunteered to pay the back rent and guarantee payments of future rent.