Back when they were a couple and living on Sanchez Street in San Francisco's LGBTQ Castro district in 2004, Tito Vandermeyden and Demian Quesnel were evicted from their apartment.
The gay men's neighbors in the building were also evicted from their apartment, resulting in at least seven tenants being displaced.
The following year they attempted to land a below-market-rate apartment via the Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development's affordable housing program but weren't selected.
After they split up in 2009, Vandermeyden began trying to buy an affordable unit on his own. Over the past 12 years he has applied for at least 15 one-bedroom below-market-rate housing units in the city but has had no luck via the lottery system used to