Public housing profiteers plan conference to displace Berkeley's poor

Public housing profiteers plan conference to displace Berkeley's poor

By Lynda Carson -- May 12, 2011

Berkeley -- On May 18, 2011, at 9:00 AM, it is expected that EJP Consulting will assist the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) with a "Pre-submission conference" in an attempt to answer any questions from all the developers that may be interested in buying Berkeley's 75 mostly occupied public housing units. The meeting will take place at the BHA's Administrative Building in Berkeley.

Berkeley public housing tenant Ann Marie Dent says, "I do not want to move. I do not think it is right. I do not think it is fair. I am disabled with lupus. The last thing I heard is that it would take around a year for them to evict us, according to David Solis of the BHA. I have been a public housing tenant in Berkeley since 1995 or 1996. I love my neighborhood, and with my disability it would be impossible for me to move from here."

Anna Smith has lived in Berkeley's public housing since 1992. "I like where I am living at. I want to stay where I am. I have a family, and my grandchildren are in school. I have no where to go. Last thing I heard is that nothing is to happen to us for at least a year," said Smith.

As recent as May 2, 2011, the BHA released a Request For Proposals (RFP), in an effort to find one or more so-called non profit housing developers, or for profit developers willing to buy Berkeley's mostly occupied 75 - three and four bedroom townhouse units, located throughout the City of Berkeley, on 15 parcels. Developers can obtain the RFP at the BHA's Administrative Office, or through Tia Ingram, BHA's Executive Director.

In an effort to privatize and sell its public housing units, the BHA is seeking statements of qualification and fee proposals from developers for the acquisition, rehabilitation and operation of its 75 public housing units. The effort will displace Berkeley's poor public housing residents from their housing.

Submissions to the RFP are due no later than 3:00 PM July 11, 2011, and the selection of the highest ranked respondent is scheduled to occur on Aug. 1, 2011.

Based upon information provided by the BHA around 2009, nearly 72.9% of its public housing tenants earn less than $30,000 annually. Additionally, 86.5% of the residents in the BHA's public housing program identify themselves as Black / African-American, 11.2 % as white, and 2.2% as Asian, and that the BHA only makes around $607 per month from federal subsidies, including rent collected from the tenants for a three to four bedroom public housing unit.

In a letter from Scott Jepsen of EJP Consulting to Tia Ingram, Executive Director of the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA), Jepsen and EJP Consulting proposed to prepare a list of potential recipients that may be interested in buying Berkeley's public housing units, and plan to attend the bidders conference and assist in clarifying the RFP as questions may arise.

EJP Consulting was hired by the BHA to assist with the preparation of the Inventory Removal Application to dispose of Berkeley's public housing units, and to assist the BHA in finding a development partner, for the privatization and disposition of 75 public housing units.

The BHA filed papers with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Dec. 29, 2009, to dispose of its public housing units. The approval by HUD to dispose of and sell Berkeley's 75 public housing units occurred on Dec. 22, 2010, placing all the public housing residents at risk of displacement, and homelessness.

Gayle Epp, Scott Jepsen and Rhae Parks (EJP Consulting Group) have worked together for over ten years on gentrification projects that displace the poor from public housing projects, and communities across the nation. All three are former staff from Abt Associates, and were hired by the BHA to come up with a plan to dispose of Berkeley's public housing units.

Since March of 2009, the BHA has paid Scott Jepsen and his merry band of profiteers from EJP Consulting Group, LLC, as much as $69,770 or more for their services to come up with a strategic plan, to dispose of Berkeley's 75 mostly occupied public housing units.

Maried with 2 children in Shoreline, Washington, Scott Jepsen of EJP Consulting was born July 25, 1960, and has an architect's license in Washington, that expires on his birthday during July 2011.

Before exploiting poor public housing tenants across the nation with schemes to dispose of their public housing units, or plans to convert their housing into Hope VI projects that displace the poor, Jepsen first learned how profitable it was to displace the poor from their public housing units while he was a Redevelopment Manager for the Seattle Housing Authority, while working on a Hope VI project.

According to some Personal Financial Affairs Statements filed by Scott Jepsen with the Public Disclosure Commission in Olympia, Washington, Jepsen also used to be the Mayor of Shoreline (three consecutive terms), and a City Council member of Shoreline.

Additionally, Jepsen was a Senior Associate of Abt Associates, and still has connections there. Abt Associates is another firm that specializes in housing and gentrification schemes that displace the poor, and working class from their housing and neighborhoods.

Abt Associates made national news headlines during Dec. 2010, for being part of a program in New York City that intentionally denied housing assistance to the poor during a 2 year period, just to see if the poor would become homeless as a result.

On July 13, 2010, Rhae Parkes of EJP Consulting and Jennifer Turnham of Abt Associates teamed up together as speakers at a forum at the Urban Institute in Washington D.C., to promote the proposal called the Preservation, Enhancement, and Transformation of Rental Assistance (PETRA), in an effort to privatize around 1.5 million public housing units all across the nation.

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