Disabled Woman Faces Eviction In Malvern, Monday Protest Planned

MALVERN, PA — The handwritten message on the top of Manisha Divecha's eviction notice reads, "You must be paid in full or moved out by March 15, 2021, at 11:00."

A Chester County court judgment against the resident of The Haven at Atwater Village in Malvern says the tenant of the Bozzuto property owes $12,000. She leases a $1,650-a-month accessible home in the apartment community.

Judge Joanne V. Kline signed the eviction order, dated March 3.

Divecha said she has struggled to make her rent over several years. She has earned two college degrees, but physical disabilities that limit her to a power wheelchair have limited her employability, she told Patch. The apartment she lives in at 2000 Ruby Crest Drive accommodates her unique disabilities, she explained.

The disabled woman has been supported with a housing voucher from the Housing Authority of Chester County, overseen by the Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Divecha explained. She said that last year, the housing authority and HUD denied her a modest increase in her voucher, and that has put her where she is at now; facing eviction in one week.

The Chester County Housing Authority had not returned a response to Patch's request on March 3 for a comment on the eviction, nor did Bozzuto respond to an email, website message, and voice mail message left, asking for comment.

Divecha said she has lived in the apartment since 2017. She said she has tried negotiating with her landlord, Bozzuto, to arrange a way to catch up on what she owes. "I have always paid whatever I could," Divecha said.

She said the food stamps she has received have been cut by $100 a month because she has not paid all her rent every month.

Divecha said that the onsite manager at The Haven at Atwater Village has been very helpful and even advocated on her behalf. "He stood up in court and said he was working with me," she said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which functions within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Jan. 31 announced the extension of an order under Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act to temporarily halt residential evictions to prevent the further spread of COVID-19. The order is effective through March 31, 2021, according to the federal document filed.

While local eviction moratoriums are in place in some municipalities across the state, a statewide ban on evictions that expired in August 2020 was never renewed, and eviction bans vary by state. The Philadelphia Housing Authority's moratorium on evictions expires March 15.

An organizing group called the Poor People's Army has taken up Divecha's case and has planned a demonstration for Monday morning outside Divecha's home.

A post said, "Join us on Monday, March 8 at 11 a.m. at 2000 Ruby Crest Drive, Malvern, PA, 19355 as we fight to keep Manisha Divecha in her accessible Malvern home where she belongs!"

Organizer for the Poor People's Army Cheri Honkala said she does this work as a formerly homeless mother.

"The fact that HUD won't adjust her voucher is inhumane," Honkala said. "There is no place for her to go."

Honkala said that there is "a tsunami of disabled persons facing eviction in this pandemic." She pointed out that Divecha knew to reach out and try to find help in her situation, but many disabled persons have less education, less intellectual ability, and don't get help in their vulnerable situations. "She is not alone," Honkala said.

Honkala said her concern for people like Manisha Divecha is that they sometimes end up "warehoused in nursing homes." She said that the Poor People's Army believes it is possible "to open up low-income housing if we have the political will to do it."

The demonstration statement said the protest aims to "demand HUD provide her the voucher necessary to stay in her current apartment which meets her disability needs."

The Poor People's Army defines itself as "a nonviolent army of poor and working people, led by poor people, fighting for our survival by any means necessary." It has its roots in the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign and Kensington Welfare Rights Union in Philadelphia.