Johnnie Hodges, a 90-year-old World War II veteran, was evicted Thursday from the place that had been his home for 60 years.
After a nearly two-hour standoff, police took Hodges out of his Humboldt Parkway house on a stretcher so they could bring him to VA Western New York Health Care System to have his mental health assessed. The elderly veteran said nothing as he was carried into the ambulance, Buffalo News reported.
The crew from real estate company Extraordinary Properties began emptying his home and putting away his belongings in boxes after the ambulance left.
Hodges apparently owed M&T Bank $100,000 in loan repayments, and he owed tens of thousands more for liens on his Buffalo home.
His daughter, Robin, says that Hodges took out a second loan in 1996 for house repairs but fell behind on his mortgage when his wife suffered from Alzheimer's disease, during which he had to pay for his wife's medical bills that were not covered by insurance. By 2011, his debt had accumulated to $100,000, the Daily Mail reported.
Hodges worked as a bus driver to help make ends meet, but bus company told him when he turned 85 years old that he couldn't work anymore because of his health.
M&T Bank contacted Hodges by phone in August 2011 to talk about possible options for his debt, but the calls were not returned. The bank would continue to try to contact him over the years, but he would still not respond. Eventually, the bank had to foreclose his 3,200-square-foot home, taking ownership of the property in January 2014.
Hodges kept the matter to himself and did not tell his children. His daughter found out about the eviction last year before her mother died. Hodges' son, Johnnie Hodges, Jr., learned about it last month after reading the story in the news.
"My dad is the type of guy who doesn't really say a lot," Hodges Jr. said, The Washington Post reported. "Everything is good. Even if it's not good, he won't tell you."
M&T Bank said it put off the auction on Hodges' home for years in order to come up with arrangements to have Hodges put in an alternative housing.
"It's a sad day for everyone involved because this outcome could have been avoided," C. Michael Zabel, M&T's vice president for corporate communications, said in a statement. "We've worked on this case for more than four years, involved local not-for-profit agencies and even worked with private citizens who were willing to arrange for him stay in the house for free. However, all offers of assistance were refused. Under the rules that govern FHA mortgages such as this one, we went far above and beyond what was required, but there was nothing else we could do."
"We're trying to help out. We don't like doing this. No veteran should lose their house," Richard Saxby of Extraordinary Properties said, according to Buffalo News.
An anonymous veteran who owned several properties offered to buy Hodges' house and let him stay there for $1 a year if he was willing to let out the top floor for income. However, Hodges refused the offer. The anonymous veteran still offered to let Hodges stay in an apartment for free.
Hodges said he was praying for financial mercy.
"I worked a lifetime for this house, and I'd like to be here until I leave this world," he said, according to another report from Buffalo News.
M&T Bank rented four storage units for Hodges' belongings. It paid the first two months of storage fees and said the rest of the cost will be shouldered by Hodges' family.
Hodges served on a troop transport ship in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans during World War II. He had been living on Social Security at the time of his eviction, according to Buffalo News.
Hodges was evicted two days before the anniversary of his wife Flora's death.
