Oakland’s brutal eviction for profit system must end

Oakland’s brutal eviction for profit system must end

By Lynda Carson - April 4, 2016

Oakland - Recently I announced that 1,200 eviction notices were filed in Oakland from January 2015, through March 2016, which was incorrect. My mistake. I doubted those numbers since I read an article that mentioned there were 10,910 evictions filed in 2013 in Oakland, and around 13,000 or more evictions filed in 2014.

After seeking a clarification from the City of Oakland, today I was advised that there are about 11,050 eviction termination notices on file with the Rent Stabilization Board from January 1, 2015 through February 29, 2016 and about 100 additional notices were filed for March 2016. My apologies for any misunderstanding.

In Oakland, there are many reasons that people are being threatened with eviction, and often the tenants are being threatened with unlawful evictions, even from so-called nonprofit housing developers commonly referred to as the “Housing Mafia”, by the attorneys who defend tenants in court against an eviction.

As an example, despite being protected by Measure EE in Oakland, last week the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC) threatened tenants with eviction (30 Day Notice) at one of their so-called affordable housing projects in East Oakland. The tenants in the 21 unit residential building were being threatened if they failed to sign a new lease that was materially different from their old lease.

Among other things, the new lease states that EBALDC will no longer take payments from a third party except section 8 payments. It also mentions that there are minimum income requirements that exclude poor people from the housing project, and under section #5) the lease states that the tenants will be responsible to cover all the debts of the building by allowing EBALDC to charge higher rents.

When tenants objected, and one tenant even consulted an attorney who advised him not to sign the new lease, and the tenant gave EBALDC a statement saying that he would not sign the new lease, the tenant was immediately threatened with eviction. In a state of panic, on the following day the tenant signed the new lease under duress. Under Measure EE, Oakland’s rent law that went into effect in 2002, the tenants in this building were legally allowed to decline to sign the new contract/lease, because of the material changes in the terms of the new contract, compared to the old contracts. But EBALDC did not want to hear about the tenant’s rights, and pressured the tenants to sign the new lease with threats of eviction.

Additionally on April 4, notices were slipped under the door of the tenants in the 21 unit residential building by Danny Chen, the property manager, advising tenants that if they did not come by the building office by 2:00pm, Tuesday April 5, that all non-responses will be considered declining to sign.

The boss of property manager Danny Chen is Tammy Cotton. Tammy Cotton is also listed as a property manager with EBALDC, and she works for Cindy Norton who is head of property management for EBALDC. In California according to the Bureau of Real Estate (Department of Real Estate), property managers should have a real estate license to operate in the state of California. A search of the Department of Real Estate in California reveals that Danny Chen, Tammy Cotton and Cindy Norton are not listed as having a real estate license.


The Eviction System In California Is Brutal


The eviction system is brutal and a terrifying experience for many low-income tenants in Oakland and Berkeley. Once a tenant receives an Unlawful Detainer / 5 Day Summons, commonly referred to as a UD, the tenant has only 5 days to file a response with the court (clerk of the court), or they may lose the eviction case automatically by default.

It is a landlord friendly court system that favors the landlords who are evicting their tenants by using lawyers and big money, even if it is an unlawful eviction. Eviction cases are one of the quickest types of court cases there are in the court system in Alameda County, and many tenants cannot afford an attorney to represent them in court to fight against an eviction. Often before the tenant even receives an eviction notice (UD), the landlords are legally allowed to harass the tenants by serving as many 60 Day Notices as they want, before the tenant is eventually served a UD eviction notice. The 60 Day Notice is an advanced notice stating that the landlord wants to evict a tenant.

As tenants are fighting back and trying to get some tenant protections all across the Bay Area, they have been targeted and stalked by the California Apartment Association which is opposed to any and all reasonable tenant protections, that tenants are seeking.

Under attack by the landlords and the California Apartment Association again, word has spread around by the Richmond Progressive Alliance telling people not to sign the petition for the “Richmond Homeowners & Private Property Rights Act”, which if passed into law would make it illegal to implement rent control and eviction protections in Richmond forever.

Eviction stories are all over the news wires lately, revealing that the majority of people being evicted from their housing all across the nation are women with children. According to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, there is a shortage of 7.2 million affordable housing units across the nation. With sequestration budget cuts devastating the nation’s subsidized housing programs while executives in the so-called affordable housing sector continue to receive hefty pay increases, the homeless shelters remain filled with the poor because millions of dollars are being diverted from the section 8 program, to pay the exorbitant salaries of the executives in the so-called affordable housing industry.

In Oakland, the feud between tenants and landlords are never ending, and according to a report the cases in the Rent Arbitration Board have been increasing in recent years, as tenants have recently been objecting to unreasonable plans to increase the yearly fees to cover the costs of the rent board. A planned increase in fees that is excessive according to tenant activists, because the planned fee increase is not needed while a huge amount of money being collected has not been spent on the program in recent years.

As the struggle for renter protections in Oakland is on the rise, the “Protect Oakland Renters Act” & initiative campaign starts this Saturday at the Causa Justa/Just Cause office located at 3268 San Pablo Avenue, in Oakland. Everyone is invited on April 2nd from 9:30am to 2pm, to take part in the Campaign Launch & Kick Off to protect Oakland renters.

This is the official launch of the November 2016 ballot to protect renters being displaced in droves by never ending skyrocketing rents, unjust evictions, and unlawful practices.

Oakland’s renter protection initiative was filed on March 3 at Oakland City Hall, and the Oakland renter’s movement is part of the growing renter’s movement seeking stronger renter protections in other cities of Northern California, including the City of Richmond, and Alameda, where renter protection initiatives were also filed recently.

Additionally, the public is invited to be a speaker to help pass the “Housing State of Emergency” and Moratorium on Evictions and Rent Increases” on Tuesday April 5, at 5:pm at the Oakland City Council Chambers, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza. You can fill out a speaker card in advance for Agenda Item #12.


There Are Three Renter Protection Bay Area Ballot Measures People Can Support
(Contact info on how people can support the renter protection ballot measures)


There are presently three Bay Area ballot initiatives for rent control and just cause eviction protections that have been filed so far recently in Richmond, Alameda, and Oakland. You can support the tenant’s movement for renters rights and help make sure these initiatives gather enough signatures to make it to the ballot!

Richmond
Contact: 510-621-7566, Fair & Affordable Richmond Coalition

Saturdays 10am-2pm
Sundays 12pm-4pm
1021 MacDonald Ave., Richmond


Alameda
Contact: Brad Hirn brad.hirn [at] gmail.com, Alameda Renters Coalition

Saturdays, 9a-5p
South Shore shopping center in Alameda all day, typically near the Safeway and Trader Joe's.

Sundays, 9a-1p
South Shore shopping center, Alameda

Sunday, 1p-5p
Walgreens and Starbucks on Webster St. Alameda


Oakland
Contact: Becki becki [at] cjjc.org, Causa Justa Just Cause


Eviction Case System Being Transferred From Oakland To Hayward


Recently it became public that the eviction case is being transferred from Oakland to Hayward, making it much harder for the low-income, elderly and disabled renters of Oakland and Berkeley to make their court dates if they face eviction, and have to use public transportation.

As a way to sell the plan to consolidate the eviction case system in Hayward to the public, in a scheme to transfer the eviction case system from Oakland to Hayward, Judge Morris Jacobson publicly repeated stated on numerous occasions that there would be a shuttle bus to meet people at the Hayward Bart Station, that would take them to the Hayward courthouse. It turns out that there is not going to be shuttle bus to take the public from the Hayward BART Station to the Hayward courthouse.

In a statement sent out last week from Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker, she said: “The Alameda County Superior Court recently announced that all unlawful detainer actions (evictions) and the Court's Self-Help Center (offering help to residents who represent themselves) will be located at the Hayward Hall of Justice. This means low-income residents in Oakland and other northern Alameda County cities will no longer be able to access these services in Oakland's courthouses.”
 
“Unfortunately, the Hayward Courthouse is not close to public transportation. Renters and low-income persons will be most adversely affected by placing all unlawful detainers and self-help services in Hayward; they are most likely to have public transportation as their only viable option to reach the Hayward Courthouse, which the Court acknowledges is not readily available by BART (unlike Oakland's downtown courthouses).”
 
“The difficulties in reaching the Hayward Courthouse will increase the likelihood that many low-income residents and tenants will not be able to adequately defend actions against them and will incur wage losses by having to take more time off from work to attend case management conferences, hearings and trials.”

“Oakland's courthouses are located within minutes of public transportation. In fact it takes more travel time to reach the Hayward Courthouse than the Oakland courthouses from nearly all Alameda County city centers.”
 
“The Court's decision was not widely publicized and I don't believe the public had adequate opportunity to comment. However I believe it is important for the Alameda County Superior Court to hear from Oakland and other County residents on this issue. If you would like to weigh in, the Court's contact information is as follows:”

The public is free to contact Judge Jacobson and Chad Finke to tell them that they want the unlawful detainer actions (evictions) and the Court's Self-Help Center (offering help to residents who represent themselves) to be located in Oakland, instead of Hayward.
 
Honorable Morris Jacobson, Presiding Judge
Superior Court of California
County of Alameda
Hayward Hall of Justice, Department 511, 2"d Floor
24405 Amador Street
Hayward, California 94544
 
Chad Finke, Court Executive Officer
Executive Office
Superior Court of California
County of Alameda
Rene C. Davidson Courthouse
1225 Fall on Street
Oakland, California 94612
cfinke [at] alameda.courts.ca.gov


Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com


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