PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) -
The clock is ticking for a Northeast Portland family facing eviction.
The Steeles have until tonight to get out of their home, or the bank that owns the home can ask the sheriff's department to force them out.
The family lost their home to foreclosure but said the house is still belongs to them. For the past 25 years, 79-year-old Annette Steele has raised three generations of children.
"And if the law comes I'm ready," Steele said. "I don't have a weapon, but the one I prefer to use is hot water."
Steele spoke to a crowd of neighbors and media Friday afternoon to publicize her effort to fight the eviction.
"The lenders have tried every dirty trick in the book to get my mother out of her home," said daughter Kelly Steele.
The Steeles believe the great-grandmother of 50 was a victim of predatory lending. As her payments ballooned on a reverse mortgage, Annette worried she wouldn't be able to continue making them. She said she asked to refinance, but was told she couldn't until she missed a payment.
The Steeles have been working with a local group fighting foreclosures, We Are Oregon.
"She, like many people, was advised not to make payments," said Angela MacWhinnie, a coordinator for the group.
Now a banner on the Steele house reads "Liberation Begins at Home" and multiple homes on Northeast 14th have put up signs in support.
"I thank everybody here," Annette Steele said at the rally. "We are human beings and we need a place to stay and I will not leave this house."
Several neighbors have signed up to go over to the Steele's residence if deputies show up to evict them.
A spokesman from the Multnomah County Sheriff's Department said he was not aware of plans to do that Friday night.
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