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Oakland Housing Authority considers mass evictions at public housing sites

by Lynda Carson (tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com)
Thousands May Face Eviction From Oakland's Public Housing Sites Unless The City, County Or State Steps In To Help Cover Existing Funding Shortfalls, In Oakland's Public Housing Program!


OHA considers mass evictions at public housing sites

1,463 units may face demolition or dispossession from OHA's housing stock

By Lynda Carson October 6, 2007

Oakland -- Theres been a turning point in the affairs of the Oakland Housing Authority (OHA), and a huge shift in the way the OHA wants to do business in the City of Oakland. As a result, thousands of low-income public housing tenants may face eviction during the next few years from their housing, and their housing units may be demolished or sold off to help raise revenue to cover the operating expenses of Oakland's public housing program.

Due to federal budget cuts in the OHA's housing programs totaling around a $24 million combined loss during FY 07 and FY 08, the OHA will be spending more money in FY 08 than it is bringing in and does not have enough funding to repair and maintain it's existing public housing stock.

The result of this crisis is that conversations are taking place to consider the demolition or dispossession of 1,463 public housing units in Oakland, in an effort to focus on a few of the OHA's public housing sites, while letting the rest of their public housing stock fall into a state of disrepair. The OHA may apply to Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for permission to dispose of most of it's scattered public housing sites or demolish them, in exchange for Section 8 vouchers.

In a nut shell, out of 266 public housing sites in Oakland the OHA wants to focus exclusively on 22 of their on-going housing site projects throughout the city, including their five Hope VI projects and the Tassafaronga Village 87 unit public housing complex, while considering the sale, demolition, or abandonment of the rest of it's public housing stock.

Oakland housing activist James Vann believes that this shift in housing policy would be very bad for Oakland's low-income community and all other renters who would find that rents across the city may increase as a result of losing so much of our low-rent housing. "I think this is very bad for all of Oakland's renters and the low-income community, because theres not enough low-rent housing available for all the extra Section 8 vouchers that would be needed if 1,500 public housing units went off-line in Oakland. Tenants don't feel threatened until it's their turn to be evicted, and often then it's too late. The citizens of Oakland need to rise up in opposition to any proposals to sell off or demolish Oakland's precious public housing units before their all gone," said Vann.

Thousands of low-income renters in Oakland may face eviction as a result of this turn around in housing policy, and the latest casualties are already occurring at the Tassafaronga Village public housing complex where 75 famlies face eviction if they do not relocate soon from the complex before a wrecking ball demolishes their public housing units. Already wasting millions in housing funds that have been diverted away from it's other housing programs for the Tassafaronga project, the OHA continues to spend millions to turn the Tassafaronga Village public housing complex into a privatized mixed income housing project, and low-income tenants in other public housing sites suffer as a result. As recent as September 18, OHA director Jon Gresley asked OHA's board members to divert another $15 million in much needed housing funds away from other housing programs, to the Tassafaronga project. In addition, last June the OHA applied for 75 Section 8 vouchers for the current families facing displacement at Tassafaronga Village, and during September HUD approved the voucher request, but it does not guarentee that the 75 families will be able to find low-rent housing in the Bay Area with their vouchers.

The Proposed Dispossesion Of 1,463 Public Housing Units

The OHA wants to use Section 8 vouchers for all the families that will lose their housing in the 1,463 units being considered for dispossesion, and expects that it would take around 3 years to come up with around 1,500 housing vouchers for the families being placed at risk. Even with Section 8 vouchers, in a tight housing market that lacks low-rent housing, the OHA knows that many displaced families will be placed at risk of homelessness, regardless of their vouchers.

The OHA has 3,308 public housing units, including 5 privately owned and managed Hope VI sites. Theres 8 sites that have anywhere from 30 to 390 units at each location, including 254 scattered sites with an average of 6 housing units per location. Most units are 35 to 40 years in age and the OHA wants to focus on "22 on-going project sites", which includes it's Hope VI projects. The OHA wants to dispose the rest of it's scattered sites or demolish them, but may retain 4 additional public housing sites if it can come up with the necessary funding to maintain or redevelop them.

In the future, public housing redevelopment in Oakland and capital improvements to it's public housing sites may be financed from the proceeds of selling off the OHA's scattered public housing sites, until everything is gone except for a few public housing locations that may or may not end up being privatized.

If enacted upon, these proposals would be a complete disaster for the City of Oakland and Bay Area low-income renters seeking low-rent housing in Oakland. The extreme loss of Oakland's public housing units would reverse years of struggle to finance these housing projects that have meant so much to Oakland's low-income population.

"This is just awful," says Oakland Section 8 tenant Corrine James. "It's already a total nightmare to try and use a Section 8 voucher in Oakland because so many low-income renters are competing for the same apartment units and landlords are witholding our security deposits from us until we move to a new location. The time limits imposed on us to use a voucher stresses us out, and makes you worry about finding a new place before the housing authority takes the voucher away from you. First and last month's rent, plus security deposits being demanded by prospective landlords makes it nearly impossible for poor people to use Section 8 vouchers, and none of us have money to spare to cover the cost of a credit check," said James.

Diverting Funds From Other Housing Programs

The OHA's public housing program has been operating at a deficit for a number of years, and the OHA has been looting funds from the Section 8 and Local Fund Reserves to cover some of these funding shortfalls in it's public housing program. With federal budget cuts continuing in Section 8 funding, it has become much more difficult for the OHA to loot these funding sources any longer without causing considerable damage to their other housing programs.

In addition, rental income in the OHA's public housing program is expected to remain flat in FY 08, due to a higher vacancy rate because of unit repairs and eviction activity, and uncollected rents which are at around 3%. The vacancy rate beginning in FY 08 is 5%, and 75% of public housing tenants in Oakland are African-American, 18.8% are Asian, 5.8% are White, and 2.9% are Hispanic. The average income of Oakland's public housing tenants is around $14,397 annually. Around 40% of households being served are elderly, or have a disabled member in the family. The OHA houses over 9% of the City of Oakland, and over 20% of it's low-income residents.

Making matters worse, is the forced transition into asset management and project based budgeting (AMP) which will require public housing sites to be self sustaining by 2012. HUD also requires housing authorities to hold a minimum 3 months in funding reserves for public housing AMP management, and the OHA plans to grab $5 million from the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Project Reserves to cover the shortfall in their Public Housing Operating Reserves.

The funding crisis is so bad that the OHA is also considering the sale of it's local fund properties known as State 6 and State 12, which would generate much needed funds from a one time sales deal, but in the process would end up creating a future revenue loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, after giving up these annual sources of revenue.

In addition to the above mentioned considerations, the OHA wants to change it's income targeting requirements to one that brings in higher income tenants into it's housing programs, in exchange for it's low-income tenants. Currently, 96% of tenants in OHA's housing programs earn less than 50% of the local AMI, and 81% earn less than 30% of AMI. Higher income tenants would receive less of a subsidy, which would allow the OHA to spend the newly gained revenues on other projects. The OHA expects to bring in 300 new families through it's Section 8 voucher program during the next year, and this is where the higher income targeting may begin taking place to help fund it's deteriorating public housing program and Hope VI projects. The result would be that the lowest-income renters of Oakland would be ignored as the OHA cherry picks higher income renters for it's housing programs.

The OHA currently needs around $45 million in funding to maintain and repair it's 266 housing sites, and will need around $150 million in funding during the next ten years to properly maintain it's public housing properties.

The OHA did not respond to several requests in regards to this article, though they promised to get back to me.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com
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by Displacement Watch
East Bay Habitat for Humanity project displaces Tassafaronga families

East Bay Habitat for Humanity is involved in the scheme to displace 75 to 87 families from Tassafaronga Village public housing. Habitat for Humanity's project can't move forward until they get rid of the poor African-American families who are in their way.

Click on link below to "where we build"... Habitat builds upon the backs of the poor in this case, and they need to be exposed for what they are doing.

info [at] habitatEB.org

East Bay -- Habitat for Humanity

http://www.habitateb.org/where_we_build/

Habitat for Humanity East Bay
Board of Directors

Michael O'Kane, Board President
Principal
Promontory Financial Group, LLC

Michael Oliver, Board Vice President
Director of Government Relations & Entitlements
Pacific Union Homes

Adam Fiore, Board Treasurer
General Counsel
Apex Capital, LLC

Lee Hudson, Board Secretary
Controller
Private Firm

David Barron
Attorney
Cassidy, Shimko & Dawson

Larry Briggs
Executive Vice President (Retired)
Bank of America

John Byrd
Manager
Federal Reserve Bank

Andrew Cameron
Senior Vice President & Deputy General Counsel
The PMI Group, Inc.

Katie Glynn
Auditor (Retired)

Bob Hoffman
Director
Becton Dickinson Biosciences

Chris Hunter
Attorney
Morgan Miller Blair Law Firm

John Lovitt
Executive Advisor to Technology Startups,
Board of Directors
Codefast and Appistry
Senior Vice President of Worldwide
Field Operations (Retired)
Rational Software / IBM

Jan Makin
Human Resource (Retired)
CA State Automobile Association

Rodger Miller
Director of Land
Pulte Home Corporation

Leonard Nielson
General Contractor

Catherine Pinkas
Financial Advisor
Sage Financial Network

Gary Struthers
Architect
Hardison, Komatsu, Ivelich, & Tucker

Ed Szaky
President
Matrix Real Estate Services, Inc.

Matthew E. Weber
Assistant Director of Operations
The Olson Company

Nancy Williams
Principal
Williams & Associates

****************
Habitat for Humanity East Bay Staff

2619 Broadway Oakland, CA 94612
Office Main Phone Number 510-251-6304
General email: info [at] habitatEB.org

Executive Director
Janice Jensen, ext. 314
jjensen [at] habitatEB.org
Executive Assistant
Jen Golike, ext. 369
jgolike [at] habitateb.org

Development Department

Director of Development
Krysta Morgenthaler, ext. 310
kmorgenthaler [at] habitatEB.org
Corporate Development Officer
Daryl Lee, ext. 306
dlee [at] habitatEB.org

Donor Development Officer
Sue Howell, ext. 307
showell [at] habitatEB.org
Volunteer Programs Manager
Eliza Schissel, ext. 360
eschissel [at] habitatEB.org

Grants Manager
Lisa Boege, ext. 308
lboege [at] habitatEB.org
Development Associate,
Materials & In-Kind Donations
Donald Rodrigues, 510-777-9706
drodrigues [at] habitatEB.org

Fund Development Coordinator
(AmeriCorps VISTA Member)
Andrew Goldsworthy, ext. 368
agoldsworthy [at] habitatEB.org
Volunteer Coordinator
(AmeriCorps Member)
Matthew Durham, ext. 311
mdurham [at] habitatEB.org

Volunteer Coordinator
(AmeriCorps Member)
J.P. Lor, ext. 361
jplor [at] habitatEB.org

Finance & Operations Department

Director of Finance & Operations
Jim Obendorf, ext. 359
jobendorf [at] habitatEB.org
Finance & Operations Manager
Lucinda Lee, ext. 303
llee [at] habitatEB.org

Accounting Manager
Lara Wagner, ext. 305
lwagner [at] habitatEB.org
Accounting Specialist
Thalia Cambouroglou, ext. 357
tcambouroglou [at] habitatEB.org

Housing Development Department

Housing Development Director
Jim Bergdoll, ext. 312
jbergdoll [at] habitatEB.org
Senior Project Manager
Hector Burgos, ext. 355
hburgos [at] habitatEB.org

Assistant Project Manager
Brenda Chaquette, ext. 324
bchaquette [at] habitateb.org
Project Manager
Doug Stimpson, ext. 363
dstimpson [at] habitatEB.org

Project Specialist
(AmeriCorps Member)
Natalie Monk, ext. 372
nmonk [at] habitatEB.org
Assistant Project Manager
Hitesh Jadav, ext. 363
hjadav [at] habitatEB.org

Homeowner Relations Department

Director of Homeowner Relations
Jen Shafer, ext. 370
jshafer [at] habitatEB.org
Community Building Program Manager
Tim Thomas, ext. 316
tthomas [at] habitatEB.org

Homeowner Program Specialist
Isabel Paez, ext. 362
ipaez [at] habitatEB.org
Habitat Youth Scholarship Coordinator
Catherine Chen, ext. 366
cchen [at] habitatEB.org

Homeowner Relations Coordinator
(AmeriCorps Member)
Alejandra Guillen, ext. 367
aguillen [at] habitatEB.org
Homeowner Relations Coordinator
Megan Shea, ext. 365
mshea [at] habitatEB.org

Homeowner Relations Coordinator
(AmeriCorps Member)
Gaylen Mohre, ext. 360
aguillen [at] habitatEB.org

Construction Department

Construction Director
Hans Reuvekamp, ext. 317
hreuvekamp [at] habitatEB.org
Construction Field Supervisor
Sam Charles
scharles [at] habitatEB.org

Cost Engineer
Ruairi O'Sullivan, ext. 358
rosullivan [at] habitatEB.org
Construction Engineer
(AmeriCorp VISTA)
Aaron Preman, 510-251-6304 ext. 354
apreman [at] habitatEB.org

Site Superintendents
Christopher Dumbleton,
cdumbleton [at] habitatEB.org

Chrissy Thomas,
cthomas [at] habitatEB.org
Site Carpenter
Juan Zavala

Construction Site Assistants
(AmeriCorps Members)
Katie Boehm
Jeremy Coerper
Stephen Eales
Johannes Copeland
Peter High
Abigail Loughrey
Robert Maldonado
Maggie Schouten
Kwon Hong Teoh
Alyssa Thunberg
Shipei Wang


ReStore

ReStore Manager
Frank Atkins, 510-777-1447
fatkins [at] habitatEB.org

ReStore Personnel
Pablo Maldonado, 510-777-1447

Development Associate,
Materials & In-Kind Donations
Donald Rodrigues, 510-777-9706
drodrigues [at] habitatEB.org
Materials Procurement Assistant
Bryan Kilgore, 510-777-9706


ReStore Coordinator
(Americorps VISTA)
Ty Abrams, 510-777-9706
tabrams [at] habitatEB.org

 

by MeepMeep
too bad, so sad. not really.

evicting people and forcing them to take personal responsibility is what we need to do. i grew up in public housing. public housing breeds too much violence and doesn't encourage people to do better for themselves.

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