Yolanda McCloud is a member of 9to5 who is working closely on the Renter’s Rights campaign. She currently lives with her husband and three children in Aurora. On April 19th, Yolanda courageously shared her story about her struggles with finding housing with other community members, organizations and city officials. Yolanda have previously lived in Park Hill since she was four years old, so for about four decades. Although she rented several different houses in that neighborhood, she had always lived in that area. At the last house she lived in, she was experiencing many severe maintenance issues that put her family at risk and was not receiving responses from her landlord.

Yolanda decided to withhold some of her rent money in the hopes that her landlord would take action. Instead, Yolanda was evicted and now lives in an apartment in Aurora. Before then, she had never lived in an apartment, and mentioned how it was a big sacrifice, they had to get rid of the dogs and a lot of their belongings because of the lack of space. “In Park Hill, I knew everyone from 22nd to Colorado in that area. I knew the people who worked at local businesses, the movie theatre, the laundry mat, my mother worked at the corner store, and everyone knew her. Now I don’t know anyone there. I know I can never live in Denver again, I can’t afford it, and now I’m afraid to look for another place to live when my lease is up. I see ads that say “no evictions, no evictions”, and even though I have documentation about my case, landlords are not even considering me. Eviction to them means trouble maker. They don’t look at the fact that I paid my rent on time for 20 years.” Yolanda is determined to continue sharing her story until real changes are made to help provide more protections for renters and the preservation of our communities.