A 100-year-old San Francisco woman who spent her last years in a bitter eviction battle with her landlords in the Western Addition, has died from health complications.
Iris Canada suffered a stroke over the weekend and died at an undisclosed hospital, the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco said Tuesday.
“At 100 years old, she could no longer endure the loss of her home, the site of over five decades of memories,” the committee wrote in a Facebook post. “In her last hours, she asked family members if they at least were able to recover some of her things.”
Canada, who had been a fixture of her apartment building at 670 Page St. for more than half her life, was evicted from her home in February after a judge ruled that she had not been permanently residing in the building — a violation of a life-estate agreement she had worked out with her landlord.
“I love my home. I enjoy my home,” Canada told The Chronicle in September, as she sat in her living room thumbing through family photo albums. “I’ve had a lot of good times.”
Housing supporters are rallying around a 100 year-old-woman evicted from her San Francisco apartment. The final eviction notice was delivered to Iris Canada’s home on Page Street on Friday.
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The keepsakes she had collected over a lifetime had been part of a tug of war between Canada and her landlords, who described her home as dirty and stuffed with trash in arguments to evict her.
While her home was cluttered, Canada said her cherished possessions included photos of nieces and their children that adorned her walls. Every nook and cranny was crammed with mementos and paintings done by family members.
Canada had been fighting her landlords, Peter Owens, Stephen Owens and Carolyn Radisch, for years.
Under their agreement, Canada was allowed to live in the apartment for the rest of her life at a fixed rent of $700 a month as long as she was the sole occupant and was actively living there.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge A. James Robertson ruled in favor of the landlords, who presented evidence that Canada had not been living in the home, an assertion her niece, Iris Merriouns, said was false.
“I am outraged, and I have the right to be outraged,” she said in September.
On Feb. 10, San Francisco Sheriff Vicki Hennessy delivered what was the final eviction notice to Canada’s home.
Canada was not home when the notice was posted, and her family was concerned what impact the eviction news might have on her health, said Dennis Zaragoza, her lawyer.
A vigil honoring Canada’s life is scheduled to be held outside the Page Street home on Wednesday from 5 to 7 p.m.
Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani