The founder of New York state’s Rent Is Too Damn High fringe political party was served an eviction notice this month, he claims because the building’s owners want to charge more rent for his apartment in a desirable Manhattan neighborhood.

“I’m going to fight it to the very last day,” said James McMillan III, who founded the Rent Is Too Damn High party, and who ran for governor and president unsuccessfully. “What’s happening to me is happening to the people,” he said. “They could get a ton of money for that apartment.”

McMillan filed a federal lawsuit in a court in New York City to try to stop the eviction. He pays $872 per month for his apartment on St Mark’s Place, in the fashionable East Village neighborhood. Market rent for one bedroom apartments in the area can be anywhere between $2,600 and $3,800 per month, according to MNS Real Estate.

McMillan and the building’s owners have been in and out of court since 2009, when McMillan claims the locks were changed on his building and he was never given a key. The event, he said, threw him into a depression and left him “sleeping in my car, in the park and sometimes on the street”, according to the filing.

Lisco Holdings LLC claims that the apartment is not McMillan’s main residence, a requirement for tenants whose apartment is protected from rent hikes through rent stabilization or rent control. McMillan disputes that claim.

The company allegedly refused to renew McMillan’s lease in April 2011, and has returned several rent checks since. Typically, landlords can’t accept rent payments from tenants during eviction proceedings. McMillan’s filing claims that Lisco is looking for more than $18,359 in back rent.

The 68-year-old Vietnam war veteran is acting as his own attorney in federal court, where he is asking for a judge to stop the eviction and to charge Lisco $1.3m in damages. In city housing court, McMillan is represented by John De Maio Attorneys at Law. If the eviction goes through, he will be kicked out of his apartment on 5 February.