San Francisco: An Indian American landlord in San Francisco, California, has threatened to evict some nuns who run a soup kitchen in one of the poorest areas of the city, if they are unable to pay an 50% increase in rent in the home they live in.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports the sisters of the Fraternite Notre Dame Mary of Nazareth Soup Kitchen can’t afford the rent increase from $3,465 to $5,500 a month as of Jan. 15. Their lawyer says the owner has served a notice on the nuns asking them to pay the higher rate or leave.
An attorney for the landlord, Nick Patel, says his client is in India and has put everything on hold and will assess the situation when he returns later this week, reported the Associated Press.
The soup kitchen is in one of San Francisco’s poorest neighborhoods, the Tenderloin district, and feeds hundreds every week.
The Chronicle reported the soup kitchen serves lunch and dinner to hundreds of people every week.
Soaring rents in the Bay area, which is a magnet for well-paid tech workers, have fueled a debate about US income inequality, reported Sky News.
One of the nuns, Sister Mary Benedicte, said she couldn’t understand why anyone would want to throw them out.
“All we want to do is help the homeless,” the French devotee told the Chronicle. “Homeless people often have no affection, and here we can say hello and give them some good food. I give my heart.”
The sisters have helped the homeless for the past eight years from the Turk Street premises, The American Bazaar reported.
They currently pay the rent through their only source of income, selling homemade baked goods at farmers’ markets, according to the Chronicle.