Facing eviction, disabled couple rally support to stay in their Maplewood apartment

Tears welling in his eyes, his already shaky voice quivering with emotion, Darrell Paulsen told a crowd of supporters at his Maplewood apartment Tuesday that he wouldn’t heed a court order to vacate his home by midnight Wednesday.

He and his longtime partner, Nikki Villavicencio, a Maplewood City Council member, said they weren’t merely defying the court order, Paulsen said. They had nowhere to go.

“We made this a home where we can live independently and not have to be in a facility,” Paulsen said of the $85,000 in state-paid accommodations to make the unit accessible for the wheelchair-dependent couple over the past six years. “Please, help us stay.”

State lawmakers told the crowd that they want to help the couple do just that, boosting eviction protections for disabled Minnesotans. Rep. Peter Fischer, DFL-Maplewood, and Sen. John Hoffman, DFL-Champlin, said it appears there are no special state protections against eviction for people with disabilities.

“We need to change that,” Hoffman said.

On April 7, Ramsey County District Judge Reynaldo Aligada ordered the couple to vacate the apartment after the property owner, Layers Investment Group of Savage, had proven the eviction was legal.

Not only had Layers given the couple adequate notice for the month-to-month lease, Aligada said, but Paulsen had violated terms on the lease by smoking marijuana in the apartment. While Paulsen, who has cerebral palsy, said he’s been prescribed cannabis by his doctor, smoking is not permitted.

The couple’s claims that the eviction was discriminatory — as well as retaliation for their accommodation requests — were not proven, the judge wrote in his order.

The next steps — for the couple and their landlord — are unclear. As of Wednesday morning, Paulsen told the Minnesota Star Tribune, the couple were still in the apartment. He said they have no one to help them and their 13-year-old daughter move.

Emmanuel Aguda is listed as the contact for Layers Investment Group. On Monday, he refused to answer questions from the Minnesota Star Tribune about the eviction, referring a reporter to his lawyer.

In a phone interview, attorney Timothy Baland said his client was justified in the eviction, noting that two of the building’s four tenants had also been evicted and a third was staying as a caretaker.

“They’re not being singled out in any way here,” Baland said. “They were given notice to vacate. They didn’t get out.”

He added: “We don’t go around looking for people in wheelchairs in order to evict them.”

In an email, Baland added that property owners have rights to give tenants notice to vacate and to evict them when they don’t follow the lease and the law.

“The property owner is the victim in this case, because he provided the requisite notice and the defendants did not vacate ... I did everything possible to NOT file an eviction against these particular defendants,” he added. “However, in the end, the defendants left the property owner with little choice but to actually file the eviction.”

Villavicencio was born with a rare condition that leaves her unable to use her hands. She had a number of modifications made to the apartment so she can use her feet to cook and perform other everyday tasks.

Villavicencio has been a vocal activist for disabled people to live as independently as possible. It’s unfair, she said, that her landlord, who bought the property last year, will be able to take possession of the accommodations made to the apartment by the previous owner with the government assistance she and Paulsen obtained.

“It’s wrong,” she said.

Fischer, the state representative, agrees, adding that he suspects Aguda is planning to convert the building into a group home for disabled people, for which they could charge more money.

A message left with Baland about that wasn’t immediately returned.

Fischer said he and Hoffman will work to boost eviction protections for disabled Minnesotans and keep property owners from taking ownership of units where accessibility accommodations were made.

In the meantime, he said of the couple, “it doesn’t seem there are a lot of options for them right now.”