Amid bright paintings, multiple drum kits, piles of clothes, ball pit balls, and other odds and ends, members of the Lamont Street Collective are deciding what gets packed now and what will remain for the eviction specialists to remove. As of today, they could be kicked out at any time.

“We’re trying to be selective about which knickknacks to take,” says Justin Jacoby Smith, one of the members of the activist collective. “The pile of broken garden hoses can stay.”

After 41 years of hosting film screenings, art shows, concerts, salons, fundraisers, and more, the Lamont Street Collective has to move out of its Mount Pleasant digs, following an eviction notice from landlord Paul Repak. Starting Wednesday morning, the residents began moving their most valuable possessions out of the house.

Repak purchased the property in March of 2015, according to D.C. records. But that was hardly the start of shaky footing for the collective, originally founded by John Acher in 1975. For more than a decade, LSC has been in and out of court following the death of the house’s original landlord, even as it has continued to host events for artists and activists.

In 2014, the collective had an opportunity to purchase the house, but the members weren’t able to raise enough money. When that window closed, they entered into a lease with the bank through October 2015.

Midway through that lease, Repak bought the house and said that he wanted to move his family in. LSC members say they are suspicious that it is an excuse to get them out of the property as quickly as possible (under D.C. law, new property buyers can most easily evict tenants by living in the house themselves—they have to reside there for at least a year to avoid violating the law). Repak has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

“We had no intention of leaving,” says Kri Van Sloun, another resident of the collective. “Spaces like this don’t exist in D.C. anymore.” After a year of legal back-and-forth, a court mediated a settlement: Repak would pay $30,000 and the collective would move out by July 31 move-out date.

In the Lamont Street Collective’s telling, Repak requested a check for June’s rent rather than collect it himself, which he had done up until that point. They say they sent it out; Repak told the court he never received it. Hence the eviction, which nullifies the settlement.

Nine people currently live in the house, which has a monthly rent of $2,800. In a city where people need to make nearly $120,000 to afford a two-bedroom apartment, residents of the Lamont Street Collective each pay $400 a month.

While they’ve been able to secure a new abode in Petworth that will fit eight of the LSC residents, their rent will double. “There’s a lot of anxiety about how people are going to afford the new place,” says Van Sloun. “Some people are going to have to get another job and do less organizing.”

LSC wants to keep the acronym of its name, even as it leaves Lamont Street. “I like the Lost Sock Collective,” jokes Bryan Kovalick, another resident of the collective. But whatever the letters come to stand for, the collective wants continuity.

“Our ideal is basically to continue the legacy of the collective, to continue the energy that’s been around for 40 some-odd years, and continue to be a positive force for the community we exist in,” says collective member Cody Valentine.

Kovalick joined the collective after he was invited to an art show at LSC two years ago. “It was an Acroyoga burlesque show with fire dancing. Who does that?” He was hooked.

For Smith, moving will allow LSC to refocus on its core missions. The legal battle “is really emotionally draining. Things the house ostensibly does take a hit when energy goes to legal meetings and court filings,” he says. “As much as it’s painful to leave, this isn’t the end. It’s just the end of this chapter. That’s what I tell myself, anyway.”

But before LSC moves, the members plan to protest their eviction. “We want the whole neighborhood to know who he is and why we’re moving,” says Van Sloun. “We’re not abandoning this place.”

Kovalick says the peaceful protest will include signs, people sitting on the stairs, and chanting. Repak has to show up for the eviction along with 25 work men or the action can’t proceed. Marshals will also be there to ensure everyone’s safety.

Smith wants the story of LSC’s eviction to resonate with the larger discussion of gentrification in D.C. “What’s happening here is not just about eight young people being kicked out of their home. It’s about another profit-seeking landlord displacing people,” he says. And the LSC has no intention of letting up on Repak, even after they head north to Petworth, he says. “We plan to be a pain in his ass.”