SAN PABLO, California - The trouble began for Mauricio Badillo around July 2022, when the 43-year-old married father of three asked his landlord to address the mold in the home he rents in San Pablo.
Badillo, a painter, tried to wash it off his walls but couldn’t. It emitted a rotten odor and crept into the furniture. His landlord sent an inspector who Badillo said confirmed his suspicions and blamed the 80-year-old home’s lack of insulation.
Badillo said the landlord told him he didn’t have the money for repairs and asked for time to resolve the situation. Concerned the mold had caused his youngest son’s asthma but lacking housing alternatives, Badillo agreed.
In October 2023, he received a letter from a property management company attempting to terminate his tenancy. It wasn’t an eviction lawsuit. That arrived last month.
“I thought that everything was going to be OK,” Badillo said in Spanish through an interpreter. “However, instead, now he is trying to evict me.”