ProJo: Rent-control activists protest effort to evict elderly Providence couple

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Meeting Wednesday morning at the home of an elderly couple facing eviction, about 20 activists from DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality) announced the start of an effort to put a rent-control initiative on the Providence ballot this fall.

The protest at 40 Grove St. in Federal Hill was in support of the Trottier family, facing eviction Feb. 28 by a new corporate owner from Boston, Providence Student Living. The new investor purchased the three-family house last November and intends to lease at higher rents to students, according to DARE. A spokesperson for Providence Student Living could not be immediately reached for comment.

Butch, 78, and Madonna Trottier, 76, live on the first floor of 40 Grove St. Butch Trottier said that their son, Steven, who is in his 40s and is disabled, lives on the second floor. Christopher Samih-Rotondo, an organizer from DARE, said the third-floor tenant has already been evicted.

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