Today’s New York Times features a heartbreaking story about the struggles faced by Assistant Dean of Yale College Edgar Letriz, the point person in the Dean’s Office for working with student organizations.

Letriz has been on disability leave this semester because of a degenerative disc disorder.  To make matters worse, Letriz, who lives with his sister and her two children in a second-floor New Haven apartment, is now facing eviction after the owner of the three-family home where he lives defaulted on its mortgage.

The Times article focuses on Letriz and Chauntay Barnes, a Hamden resident who also lives in an apartment that has gone through foreclosure.  But there is one key difference.  The mortgage on Barnes’ unit is controlled by Fannie Mae, which has stopped evicting renters from foreclosed homes.  On the other hand, HSBC, the bank that holds the mortgage on Letriz’s property, is still evicting renters.  So Letriz, who needs surgery on his back, may soon lose his home.

“I’ve had sleepless nights and psychiatric counseling because of the pain, and now this causes more stress,” Letriz told The Times. “I’m not capable of moving. I can’t pick up even a gallon of milk.”

(Photo: The New York Times)