Inglewood, CA — Marie Riggins, an 82-year old African American woman who has lived in her home in Inglewood, California for decades, is at risk of losing her home. Her neighborhood’s HOA is demanding her to pay $38,000.
But things drastically changed for Riggins 10 years ago when her husband died of pancreatic cancer and she had to file for bankruptcy shortly after. In 2017, she started to fall behind on homeowner association fees until she apparently owed them $38,000.
Riggins, who continued working as a bookkeeper, refused to pay the amount as she believes she paid her property dues. Because of that, she might lose her home.
“My blood, sweat, and tears are in this house,” Riggins told KTLA. “This is my home, this is where I’m going to stay. I’m not going to stand around here and let them take the home that I worked hard for.”
Her home, which is located across where the $5 billion-worth SoFi stadium was recently built, is now valued at $1 million. The property was foreclosed in 2020 and she was issued a lockout notice within less than 30 days.
“I have spent too much money to just say, ‘OK here take it.’ And there’s no way in the world I can get out of here in a month,” she said, “Where am I supposed to go?”
Right now, Riggins had been doing everything to keep her home.
“I’m trying to pay them to get my title back because I don’t plan to move from here. My husband died here. It makes me sick. I said they’re going to have to kill me, it’s that bad.”
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe fundraiser has been set up on behalf of Riggins to help support the financial needs that would come up given her current situation. It has so far raised over $75,000.