Newton Residents Face Eviction

[JoeP]

An article appeared in the 10/19 Scranton Times entitled "Wording in Will Takes Home From Blind Woman, Nun".  I know these fine people and it is through no fault of their own they ended up in this predicament.  Below is a copy of the Times story.
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Story by Megan Diskin, Scranton Times

NEWTON TOWNSHIP -- Lisa Salinger, who is blind, and Sister Joy Hutton can now breathe a collective sigh of relief.

They no longer have to worry about having a roof over their heads.

For years, Ms. Salinger and Sister Joy, who drives Ms. Salinger to her work appointments, have lived in a pair of houses on Spring Drive that Robert J. McAndrews Jr. told them were their "homes for life."

About a decade ago after his wife died of cancer, Mr. McAndrews invited Ms. Salinger and a second blind woman to live with him in his home. In exchange, the two helped Mr. McAndrews around the house.

Three years later, Sister Joy, of the Sister Servants of the Sick Poor, based in Vermont, moved in.

But when Mr. McAndrews died last November, Ms. Salinger and Sister Joy found their "homes for life" in jeopardy.

It turns out Mr. McAndrews never stipulated in his will he was leaving his property to Ms. Salinger and Sister Joy. Proceeds from the real estate sale, according to Mr. McAndrews' will, were to benefit another blind person.

So the attorney for Mr. McAndrews' estate, Scranton lawyer Frank Longo, and the attorney handling Mr. McAndrews' trust, Sandra Boyle, took action to evict the women.

"You add Murphy's law to disability and that's not a good mix," said Ms. Salinger, who is employed by the state helping other blind individuals lead a more independent life.

The women, who faced eviction Monday without another place to go, got an 11th-hour reprieve Friday. Their attorney, Jack Dean of Scranton, won a stay of the eviction order before Lackawanna County Judge Robert Mazzoni -- pending a Nov. 18 hearing.

Ms. Salinger and Sister Joy had been feverishly looking for a new home -- but not only for themselves.

They also had to keep in mind Ms. Salinger's two black Lab service dogs, 8-year-old "retiree" Renee and 21-month-old Joie, who is training as her new guide dog.

The two women finally did find a new home about a mile away, but it would not be ready until December. For Ms. Salinger, it seemed futile to reacquaint herself with a temporary new home only to have to do it again in a matter of weeks.

"I hate to use my blindness as a trump card," Ms. Salinger said. "But you can only find a house as fast as you can find a house. To be six weeks short of it just seemed unfair."

Asked why the two women could not simply stay on until their new home was ready, Mr. Longo said he and Ms. Boyle have a job to do in their roles handling the estate and the trust. "I'm just trying to fulfill my obligations," Ms. Boyle said. "It's a last resort for us."

Ms. Salinger said she thought the "reasonable accommodation" clause under the Americans with Disabilities Act might be a way out of the sticky situation.

Keith Williams, statewide action team community organizer at the Center for Independent Living of Northeastern Pennsylvania, said there is no "magic bullet."

"There's no one disability-related resource to help out the disabled with evictions based on their disability," he said. "There could be some remedies to fight the eviction and win on the basis of a landlord-tenant relationship, but that's not the case here."