Oakland settles lawsuit against the Oakland Housing Authority

Oakland settles lawsuit against the Oakland Housing Authority

By Lynda Carson October, 20 2008

Oakland -- Around October 16, a settlement agreement was reached between the Oakland Housing Authority (OHA) and the Oakland City Attorney's Office regarding a February 15, 2007 lawsuit, charging that 1,615 apartment units at 254 public housing sites were cited for code violations and unsafe living conditions.

In the settlement, the OHA agreed to respond to complaints within two business days, and agreed to inspect problem sites on a weekly basis. The OHA owns over 3,300 apartments, and is one of Oakland's largest landlords.

In addition, as recent as September 22, during a late night session in the crowded meeting room of the Oakland Housing Authority Commissioners Board Meeting, the OHA board members voted and unanimously passed the relocation plans for 3,885 low-income mostly African-American renters from Oakland's public housing.

In a separate vote that same evening, the OHA board members voted and passed the disposition plan, with one abstension and one board member missing. The vote allows the OHA to move forward on a plan to file an application with Housing and Urban Development (HUD), requesting permission to dispose of 1,615 public housing units to sell off to an unnamed affiliate of the OHA.

Oakland may end up losing $10,717,140 per year in federal funding if HUD grants it permission to dispose of the 1,615 public housing units, which may result in the displacement of 1,554 low-income families from Oakland's public housing. This includes a total of 3,885 family members including children, the aged, disabled and infirm.

Just Cause Oakland, Bay Area Legal Aid, the Public Interest Law Project, and the National Housing Law Project, and many of Oakland's public housing tenants all united against the disposition plan, while the East Bay Housing Organizations (EBHO) appeared at the meeting, and declined to speak out in opposition to OHA's plan to dispose of the public housing units.

Members of EBHO are already in partnership with the OHA in mixed income housing developments in Oakland and Alameda County, that have displaced hundreds of low-income families from their public housing units. The members of EBHO stand to profit if they can manage to get their hands on the public housing properties being disposed of by the OHA for a nominal sum or for as low as $1 (one dollar) per parcel.

In addition to the above mentioned 3,885 low-income renters facing displacement from Oakland's public housing, over 500 low-income renters are fighting against their evictions from the California Hotel and other Oakland Community Housing, Inc. (OCHI), properties. As recent as August 27, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Richard Keller said that he thought OCHI was running a shell game while blocking OCHI's attempt to evict the California Hotel tenants, and ordered that the tenants may remain in their housing until their next court appearance on October 29, at the Hayward Hall of Justice.

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