CLEVELAND, Ohio - It's 6 o'clock, and neighbors filter into Waleska Berrios' living room as the church bells of nearby St. Rocco Church mark the hour.

About 20 Roehl Avenue residents, many of them low-income, elderly or single parents, gathered Friday night to discuss their options: fight the Cleveland Catholic Diocese over large rent hikes or leave their homes.

About two weeks ago, families who live in at least nine homes on the street got hand-delivered letters that started this way: "This is to advise you that the Most Rev. Richard G. Lennon, Bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland, owns the property in which you reside."

The letter went on to explain that due to rising expenses, each of their rents would go up by about $400 in the next two months. (Read the letter here or below.)

That's between an 80 and 180 percent increase, depending on what the tenants pay currently for the apartments or single-family homes.

For most, that type of rent hike is out of the question.

"I want this stopped," said Sonia Matis, who lives in the downstairs of a duplex the church got from the county land bank last June.

"I want to stay. This is my community, my people."

A legal move

It is perfectly legal under Ohio law for a landlord to raise the rent after giving notice, Cleveland Tenants Organization Executive Director Angela Shuckahosee told Roehl Avenue renters.

Fighting the rent hikes legally would be nearly impossible, she said.

"Unfortunately, there's nothing to stop that," she said. "But it is unconscionable."

"I would expect this from..some of the other landlords I've seen," she said. "But I would not expect this from an entity that is supposed to be mission-based."

After being contacted by The Plain Dealer on Monday, the Cleveland Catholic Diocese said the rent hikes were now on hold.

"It is our understanding that after considering the responses received from the community, the pastor of St. Rocco parish will have any home rental increases held in abeyance," according to an email from Robert Tayek, a spokesman for the Diocese. "This will allow for more time and a full assessment of what would be appropriate and fair rental rates for the properties."

Cleveland Councilman Brian Cummins, who was also contacted, said he had spoken to the Diocese and that they had put the rent increases on hold for now.

"It's good they paused it at least, that way we can weigh in," he said.

Rising rent, emotions high

It wasn't so much that the rent was going up that prompted the emotional response and fear from the Roehl Avenue residents.

It was the way it was done.

After years, for some more than a decade, of renting homes in the shadow of St. Rocco church, the news came without warning.

A letter, dated April 18 and signed by attorney John Climaco, explained that the renters would have to sign leases, transfer all utilities into their names and agree to pay the new prices before June 1.

That meant that low-income residents; a mother with a 3-year-old girl; an 80-year-old disabled resident; and others might be displaced - and quickly.

"I want time. Because there is no way I'll be able to move within the next 30 days. You know, it's hard for all of us," said Berrios, 49, who moved into her white-sided home four years ago.

None of the renters had leases.

That wasn't the way it worked for more than a decade after the church started purchasing or obtained many of the homes from local development groups or affiliated religious organizations.

Until Father Michael Contardi, who had been at the parish for 53 years, retired last month, most of the renters just handed him their rent checks or cash.

In exchange for the affordable rent, they handled many repairs on the homes, kept the street nice and kept watch on the area around the church.

When a new pastor, Father James Mayer, took charge about a month ago, things changed, they said.

Mayer could not be reached for comment because he was meeting with Bishop Lennon. A church secretary said he would contact a reporter when he was available.

Feeling hurt by the church

The renters, with the help of Hispanic Alliance Inc. and its community organizers, demanded a meeting with the diocese decision-makers in a letter mailed Friday. The letter called the rent hike "arbitrary and "capricious."

"I don't mean to dump on the Catholic Church or be disrespectful of your beliefs but the Catholic church is a huge, rich institution that doesn't really care about poor people or marginalized people, even though the teachings of Jesus Christ says that's what he was all about," Juan Molina Crespo, executive director of the Hispanic Alliance, told the worried residents. "We're talking about a big institution, a business that it's about making money and maintaining their power and control."

Is there a bigger plan?

The sudden move left the residents wondering. Is there a plan for the land? Will the houses be bulldozed? Is this the gentrification other Cleveland neighborhoods have seen finally hitting their street? Is this something they can fight?

"Why did they rent these houses and buy them and move these people in there and then do this?" said Jasmin Santana, a community engagement coordinator with the Hispanic Alliance.

If nothing else, renters hope for a longer-term conversation with the church leaders about the neighborhood. They want to stay put and to live in habitable and affordable homes.

Matis, 53, said some of the homes the Diocese owns that were rented by St. Rocco are not maintained the way they should be.

When she moved into a duplex the Diocese got last year from the land bank, formally known as the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corp., she paid rent starting in January and for months before she felt the home was safe to sleep in because of a busted door that still had the Realtor's lock on it.

The door wasn't fixed until April, the same week she got the letter about the rent increase.

Matis said she was told the home had been rehabbed and then vandalized.

Even now, there's not a working outlet in the kitchen to plug a refrigerator into, so she had to run an extension cord from another room. She's gotten shocked when trying to plug things into the outlets.

She and her upstairs neighbor Jessica Montoya can't use the water at the same time. No toilet flushing or dish washing, or the shower slows to a trickle.

"I've lived in this neighborhood for years, and we never had any problem with the church with the Bishop or anything. But now it's a little different," said Betty Berchin, who is 90 and has lived in the neighborhood for 80 years. She owns her home on the street but came to support the neighbors who check on her daily and call her "Mom."

"I love this neighborhood. I feel very, very bad that it seems like there's problems right now."

Berchin notes that the new priest is "young, very young, and he doesn't know much yet."

"May the dear Lord help everyone here because you are all wonderful."

Below is the letter the Roehl Avenue residents recently received about their rent payments.