A 97-year-old World War II veteran may lose his fully-furnished apartment because he can't come up with nearly $25,000 in unpaid rent.

Almost five years ago, Rev. James Blakely was living in a rundown trailer in Bedford-Stuyvesant. He had no running water and the conditions were unfit for a person to live.

But things were on the upswing for the veteran who served at Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal and Luzon and survived the attack on Pearl Harbor. That year, a New York Daily News article brought Blakely's story to the city Department of the Aging where he was placed in more suitable housing. Now that he is being thrown out, Blakely doesn't know where he will go.

“They’re trying to put me out. It’s injustice,” the U.S. Navy veteran told the Daily News.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen. … I don’t feel good. I got no place else to go.”

The decorated studio apartment became his new beloved home and for the first year, it was rent-free. The non-profit organization, Black Veterans for Social Justice, furnished the apartment and provided a lease that they claim was violated.

“When we first put Rev. Blakely into that apartment in 2012 and furnished it for him, it was a one-year rent-free lease,” Wendy McClinton, president and CEO of Black Veterans for Social Justice, told The Daily Beast. “After that, Mr. Blakely and his wife signed documents agreeing to pay rent. They have not. We submitted those documents to the courts.”

According to that lease, Blakely agreed to pay $778 a month for the apartment after the first year. Then, the rent was reduced to $635. The rent continued to rake up to $24,130 over the five-year period.

Blakely was sure he did not have to pay rent. “This was the first time I’d ever been in a place where I don’t have to pay rent," he said. "Now, this mess has begun again."

He will have to go to the Brooklyn Housing Court on Jan. 4, four days before his 98th birthday.

“I lay down at night and don’t know if I’ll have a place to lay down tomorrow night. It’s not a pleasant feeling.”

James Blakely

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