99-Year-Old Granted One-Week Reprieve From Eviction

— -- A 99-year-old San Francisco woman will be allowed to stay in her home of more than 60 years for another week, a judge ruled yesterday.

Iris Canada moved into her apartment in the city’s Lower Haight neighborhood in the 1940’s. Eleven years ago, the building’s units were sold off, but Canada was promised that as long as she lived alone and paid her $700 monthly rent, she could stay there for the rest of her life.

“I love my house,” Canada said. “Everything I’ve got is here.”

Now, the building’s owners want to sell the property. Lawyers for the owners contend that Canada has violated the terms of her tenancy by allegedly poor upkeep of the apartment and by not continuously residing there, according to court documents.

Canada, her family members, and her lawyers, per court documents, assert that she has done nothing to warrant her eviction.

"She was not gone," her great-niece Iris Merriouns told ABC News-owned station KGO. "She went on hiatus with my mother and she traveled and at other times she was hospitalized."

A judge ordered lawyers from both parties to meet again next week to decide whether the eviction should proceed.

Upon leaving court yesterday, Canada was greeted by dozens of tenants’ rights advocates and activists rallying to her support.

"This woman has a lifetime lease," city supervisor London Breed said. "So that means as long as she is here on earth, she deserves to have the dignity of her home."

Canada has become a symbol of the growing tensions between owners hoping to capitalize on San Francisco’s booming housing market and the city’s increasingly displaced lifelong residents. The city is one of the most expensive in the nation, with one-bedroom apartments listing for close to $4,000 a month, according to the rental website Zumper.

Lawyers for either party could not be immediately reached for comment.