Lincoln Heights family displaced after fire destroys home
A Lincoln Heights family has been forced to live in a camp it set up outside of its apartment building where a devastating house fire destroyed its home.
With nowhere to go following the fire that destroyed the family's apartment unit, the Benitez family set up shop in the parking lot of its apartment building.
Maria Christina Benitez slept in the front room with her brother, but for the last three nights they've slept in tents with their parents, in the parking lot of what was once her home.
The 14-year-old teenager has struggled to get sleep ever since the horrific fire.
"It's been stressful. I remember the first day I didn't sleep at all I stayed awake for the whole day," Benitez said.
A neighbor lent the family a canopy which it is now sleeping under, with mattresses. Whatever the family managed to save, it's now stacked up nearby.
Neighbors and friends have told the family that everything is going to be fine. But in Los Angeles, where rent is outrageously and painfully high, that is easier said than done.
"We're hoping to raise money so they can find a place where they can feel safe and begin to heal," parishioner Rudy Lopez told CBSLA Reporter Joy Benedict.
Lopez is a parishioner at Sacred Heart Catholic Church across the street from the Benitez's home. Lopez has started a GoFundMe page to help the family who aren't getting any help from the building's landlord.
"The landlord is refusing to be cooperative and just give them the deposit and send them away," Lopez saod.
The family's former home is a rent control building, meaning it does not pay more than $1000 a month in rent.
The Benitez family has lived here for 19 years. Finding anywhere close to what it paid per month for rent is nearly impossible.
As it is, it's hard to find anywhere in LA with rent around $1,500. A drastic jump for a family that works hard to make ends meet every month.
Gabriel Benitez, the patriarch of the family, used to be a cook before the pandemic began and is now working as a day laborer. His son is scheduled to attend Cal State LA in the fall and his daughter is in high school, which is why the community is rallying to find them a more permanent solution.
"I'd like to thank the people that gave us money from the GoFundMe. It means a lot to us," Maria Christina Benitez said.
