8/7 Tenant News/ 1,200 Evictions/ Just Cause Under Attack

August 7th tenant/housing news collection. For the latest in some of the tenant/housing news affecting us all from around the nation, join, Roll Back The Rents...

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Every where we look, the pigs are doing everything possible to gouge the renters or over turn the rental laws that protect and assist them in keeping a roof over their heads...

Cutbacks in the Section 8 program still terrorize renters across the nation...

Seniors in the Glenview district of Oakland/Piedmont face homelessness because landlord drops out of Section 8 program which assists their rental payments...

HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson is in contempt of the will of Congress and still pushes for the Flexible Voucher Program to gut the Section 8 program, and the Bush administration recently attacked the elderly, disabled and homeless programs after shifting $2 billion of HUD funds to Homeland Security...

In Oakland, the Just Cause Anti-Eviction Ordinance is under attack by Wayne Roland & the thugs at the Rental Housing Association of Northern Alameda County. The unethical landlords that promote the eviction for profit system have filed a complaint with the Ethics Commission against the Just Cause Anti-Eviction Ordinance which protects over 100,000 renters of Oakland.

Click below for details...Or read the text down below...

http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1865~2320556,00.html

In Alameda, 1,200 renters face eviction from the notorious landlord "15 Group" based out of Miami Florida, and the City of Alameda is in turmoil.

Troubles for housing tenants range across the nation from Alameda to North Carolina, and as far north as Connecticut to Massachussetts. See the below New York Times op-ed piece where HUD's Alphonso Jackson still tries to sell the Bush proposals to gut the Section 8 program despite the national protests of activists and renters that rose up in anger when HUD/Jackson recently sabotaged the program with intentionally created funding shortfalls.

Roll Back The Rents...Click below for the previous batch of tenant/housing news...

http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/08/1691008.php

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Island tenants' eviction orders get extension

By John Geluardi, CORRESPONDENT Aug 7, 2004

ALAMEDA -- During a meeting with city officials and resident representatives Thursday, owners of the Harbor Island Apartments apologized for the abrupt manner in which they issued eviction notices to as many as 1,200 tenants last week. The owners agreed to extend all of the 30- and 60-day eviction notices to 90 days, and said they may be willing to give evicted tenants a moving "stipend." Just how much compensation has not been discussed. The reason for evictions is a planned $15 million renovation of the sprawling apartment complex, although the owners have yet to file plans or request permits from the city's planning department.

Click below for complete story...Or see text further down below...

http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1726~2320547,00.html

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A presidential assault on housing
Record-Journal.com - Aug 06
It is said that there is a charitable institution with a plaque that reads, "This hospital a pious person built, but first he made the poor wherewith to fill't." Although that inscription is likely apocryphal, the reality of President Bush's policies on housing and homelessness offers similarly cruel irony.

The plot thickened further last week, when the House Appropriations Committee passed its version of the 2005 HUD budget. Responding to widespread outcry, the Republican-controlled committee added nearly $1.5 billion to Section 8 above the amount sought by President Bush. It did so, unfortunately, by cutting over 4 percent across-the-board from the rest of HUD's programs — including those serving the homeless, the elderly, people with AIDS and families with lead-poisoned children.

Click below for full story...

http://www.record-journal.com/articles/2004/08/06/opinion/communitycommentary0728.txt

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Future of subsidized housing 'bleak'
North Adams Transcript - Aug 06
NORTH ADAMS -- City families receiving federal Section 8 subsidies through the North Adams Housing Authority have dodged a termination bullet for now, but local families served by other municipal authorities may remain at risk of homelessness, said city housing authority Executive Director Marlene Walsh on Thursday.

"We've been unable to receive an answer from HUD's financial center as to why we haven't been replenished," Walsh said.

The city authority has filed an appeal challenging the cut and about 400 appeals have been filed from across the country, according to Nicole Letourneau, spokeswoman for U.S. Congressman John W. Olver. Appeal decisions are expected later this month.

Click below for full story...

http://www.thetranscript.com/Stories/0,1413,103~9054~2318510,00.html

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City residents nervous over housing fate
North Adams Transcript - Aug 06
NORTH ADAMS -- Uncertainty about homelessness is spawning real fear among federal Section 8 subsidized housing recipients. Brayton Hill resident Marilyn Boesse, 62, said on Thursday that she's very nervous about her housing fate, and has heard other program participants are frightened as well.

Click below for full story...

http://www.thetranscript.com/Stories/0,1413,103~9054~2318509,00.html

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Loan Keeps Rent
gazettes.com - August 5th, 2004
Increasing rent prices — up 15% in Long Beach in the last 12 months alone according to a city study — has put the city’s fund (Section 8 housing) that helps low-income families with rent $2.9 million in the red.

President Bush’s budget sent to Congress called for a further 10% reduction to housing authorities next year, Triesch said. The House of Representatives’ Budget and Finance Committee recommended putting some of that back, but how much will be there next year when the final budget is complete remains uncertain.

Click below for full story...

http://www.gazettes.com/grunionrent08052004.html

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Cuts threaten low-income families
Great Falls Tribune - Aug 04
A cutback in federal funding, could cost 400 low-income Montanans their subsidized housing this fall. "I can't run this program $920,000 in the red," George Warn, chief of the state's Housing Assistance Bureau, explained Tuesday.

Facing a $920,000 shortfall in the state's $15 million Section 8 program, Warn appealed the decision to HUD in June.

Montana isn't alone. New York City appealed a $55 million cutback and recently was granted a $6 million reprieve.

Click below for full story...

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20040804/localnews/976122.html

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Section 8 cuts may force hundreds from rolls
Montana Standard - Aug 03
HELENA Unless Montana can persuade the federal government to restore $920,000 in budget cuts to the state's Section 8 housing program, up to 400 low-income families will be forced from the housing assistance rolls come October, state officials said Monday.

Click below for full story...

http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2004/08/03/newsstate/hjjfjbjgjbjjfh.txt

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Glenview seniors find housing in jeopardy
Piedmonter - Aug 03
Residents of a Glenview neighborhood senior complex have learned that their landlord will no longer accept housing vouchers that they use to pay the rent.

Glenview seniors find housing in jeopardy
By Bruce Gerstman / STAFF WRITER
Residents of a Glenview neighborhood senior complex have learned that their landlord will no longer accept housing vouchers that they use to pay the rent. ... Village Apartments residents -- many elderly and all seniors living on low-income at risk.
Tuesday, August 3, 2004 (ContraCostaTimes.com)
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Final audit rips housing agency; HUD underscores its findings on the Durham Housing Authority
Michael Biesecker, Staff Writer
The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina)
August 5, 2004

DURHAM-North Carolina -- A final federal audit of the Durham Housing Authority alleges widespread fiscal mismanagement, encourages the removal of board members and recommends a takeover of the agency if it can't repay more than $5.6 million.

Released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Wednesday, the audit reinforces the critical findings included in a draft report sent to the Durham authority in June. Though local housing officials responded to the draft with a nearly inch-thick rebuttal, the final report upholds all of the auditors' initial conclusions.

If the authority is unable to repay the more than $5.6 million that federal investigators say it misspent or improperly loaned to its various nonprofit entities, then HUD should seize control of the Durham agency, the report says. It also recommends that federal authorities consider rescinding the city's $35 million Hope VI grant aimed at building 425 new homes in Durham's most blighted neighborhood.

Auditors from HUD's Office of Inspector General have been scrutinizing Durham's housing authority for nearly a year following the forced resignation of longtime Director James Tabron. He was found to have made more than $12,000 in improper charges on a housing authority credit card -- including cash advances and a $1,750 gold ring. Many of the issues outlined in the audit spring from the authority's involvement with Development Ventures Inc. and a web of other private, nonprofit agencies set up by Tabron and the housing authority's board.

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Attorney says ban on worshippers' group illegal
By Jeff Brumley staff writer
The Stuart News/Port St. Lucie News (Stuart, FL)
August 5, 2004

SAVANNA CLUB

The banning of a worship group from the Savanna Club is a violation of federal fair housing rules, a lawyer representing the worshippers said.

"It's an issue of equal access for Christians and religious people to use facilities on the same basis as everybody else," said Barbara Weller, an attorney with the Christian Law Association, which is representing the worshippers.

By Wednesday afternoon, the association had filed the complaints of 95 Savanna Club residents with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

"You are required to provide housing no matter what religion or race you are, and once they live there they have to be able to use the community's facilities the same as anyone else," Weller said.

"This is not a constitutional issue" because the Savanna Club is a private organization, not a government agency responsible for guaranteeing First Amendment rights.

The Savanna Club board's July 8 decision to prohibit worship services is not a housing violation because it did not single out Christians, said Ken Direktor, the association's corporate counsel and an attorney with Becker and Poliakoff in West Palm Beach.

Since 2001, the Savanna Club Worship Service has conducted Sunday morning services in one of the club houses at the private 1,550-home community in Port St. Lucie. But after taking a straw poll of residents that favored discontinuation of the services, the association board voted 4-0 to prohibit the use of its facilities for worship. The rule becomes effective Aug. 13.

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Article Last Updated: Tuesday, August 03, 2004 - 6:35:59 AM PST

Alameda evictions could hurt schools

Renovation at Harbor Bay Island may drop enrollment, cost district $1.6 million

By John Geluardi - CORRESPONDENT

ALAMEDA -- The mass eviction of families from the Harbor Bay Island Apartments has school officials bracing for an enrollment drop that could cost the financially struggling district $1.6 million.

Last week, the Fifteen Group, which owns the 640-unit apartment complex, taped eviction notices to the doors of about 400 families.

According to a spokesman, the property owners are evicting the residents so they can undertake a major renovation project expected to take a year or longer to complete.

Most of the evicted families are considered low-income, and nearly half receive Section 8 rent subsidies. The residents were given 30 to 60 days to vacate the premises, and others were asked to leave in the coming months as their leases expire.

According to school district records, there are 320 school-age children in the apartment complex who are enrolled in Island schools. Because of Alameda's high rents and shortage of low- income housing, most of the evicted families are expected to move from Alameda.

For each student evicted from the complex, the district stands to lose $5,000 in annual state enrollment funding.

According to Alameda school board member Michael McMahon, the worst-case scenario is a loss of $1.6 million.

"The best-case scenario is that none of the families will be evicted," he said. "But I don't think that's likely at this point."

The four affected schools are Encinal High School, Chipman Middle School and Woodstock and Longfellow elementary schools.

Encinal has the most students who are residents at Harbor Bay Island Apartments -- 75. But McMahon said Chipman, which has fewer students who live in the apartment complex but a higher rate of attendance, could be the most severely impacted.

The district, which has been struggling with dwindling budgets for the last two years, faces a $750,000 shortfall during the next school year. It likely will feel the pain of a sharp enrollment drop during the 2005-06 budget cycle. Because of existing budget problems, the district was already planning to look at possible site closures later this year.

How the enrollment drop will affect the school district depends on how quickly tenants are evicted.

"We don't know how the evictions are going to play out," said student services director David Dierking. "Some of the families, or all of them, may choose to fight the evictions."

In any case, McMahon said school board members and district administrators are looking at ways to contend with possible budget cuts resulting from sharply reduced enrollment.

"We are going to look at all the things we'd have to do to get the maximum out of everything," he said.

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NEW YORK TIMES
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

A Housing Plan in Need of Repair
By ALPHONSO JACKSON

Published: August 6, 2004

Housing
Budgets and Budgeting
Federal Aid (US)

Washington — Section 8, the federal program created in 1975 to provide low-income families with the opportunity to rent safe and affordable housing in the private market, is broken. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has a plan to fix it. If Congress passes the flexible voucher program we have proposed, President Bush and I are convinced that we can better serve the two million families who depend on Section 8 - and help even more Americans find affordable housing in the process.

Over three decades, Section 8 has grown into an overly prescriptive and unwieldy program. It has separate rules for more than a dozen different types of housing vouchers, along with 120 pages of regulations. Costs have spiraled out of control, without a corresponding gain in benefits.

Five years ago, Section 8 consumed 36 percent of HUD's budget; today, it absorbs more than half. In the past four years, the financing needed for the program has increased by 41 percent, to $20 billion a year. This growth rate is not sustainable, and it has already begun eating away at other essential HUD programs.

In voting on the department's fiscal year 2005 budget last month, the House Appropriations Committee cut funds from almost every other department program in order to keep Section 8 going. Our HOME Investment Partnerships program, which gives states block grants to help people purchase, build and renovate homes, was cut by more than $85 million. President Bush's Samaritan Initiative, a vital part of the plan to end chronic homelessness by 2012, received no money at all. Neither did the Prisoner Re-entry Program, an effort with the Labor and Justice Departments to help the 600,000 people who leave prison each year make the transition to society.

In addition, HUD's supportive housing programs for the elderly and people with disabilities or AIDS were cut by a total of $56 million. And because that still wasn't enough to maintain Section 8, Congress even had to look beyond our budget and take money from the National Science Foundation.

So, are the astronomical cost increases of Section 8 justified? Are higher percentages of people leaving the program and finding their own homes without government assistance? The answer to these questions is a resounding no.

Here's the problem: under Section 8's current rules, Washington provides money to local public housing authorities around the country for a precise number of units each year, without regard to the number of families that could benefit from the same amount of money if it was used more effectively. This doesn't make sense. If a housing authority is limited to providing a specific number of vouchers no matter how efficient it is with the financing, what incentive does it have to control costs and serve more families? None. That's one reason the waiting lists are so long for Section 8 housing in many cities.

Moreover, under the current rules, the dollar amount of vouchers for rental payments in every housing market is prescribed by a system known as "fair market rent.'' Based on imprecise government data, these figures rarely reflect true market value. Over the past few years, most rental markets have softened and vacancy rates are the highest in decades.

Under our flexible voucher program, HUD would eliminate this requirement and provide each housing agency with a specific budget and would allow them to serve as many families as possible. How many more families could we serve? Consider this example from our own backyard: in the Washington ZIP code 20020, HUD provides 1,733 families with Section 8 vouchers to rent two-bedroom apartments. While the average rent for such units is $860, the average paid by the District of Columbia Public Housing Authority is $960.

Under our proposal, the authority could pay the actual market rent and would save enough money to aid 200 additional low-income families in that Washington neighborhood alone. Imagine what such a change would mean nationwide. And Washington is on the low end of the scale - in other cities, the disparity in rents is far more egregious. There is another major change we would like to see. In 1998 Congress enacted a quota system that gives Section 8 vouchers almost exclusively to families making less than 30 percent of a given area's median income. This has had the unintended consequence of shutting the door for voucher assistance on men and women who are working hard and raise their income above the quota level, but remain too poor to afford a home. This is precisely the wrong message to send. The flexible voucher program, while still serving low-income families, would remove the quota system. Housing agencies would no longer have to discriminate against those moving up the economic ladder.

Congress needs to realize that the failed policies of the past are becoming more expensive than our proposed solution would be, and it should bring our proposal to a vote when it returns from summer recess. Our program would be more effective, efficient and flexible than the current Section 8 - and, most important, it would better meet the needs of the low-income families who depend on it.

Alphonso Jackson is the secretary of housing and urban development.

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Full Text Of Alameda & Just Cause Stories...

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Article Last Updated: Saturday, August 07, 2004 - 3:45:05 AM PST

Island tenants' eviction orders get extension

By John Geluardi, CORRESPONDENT

ALAMEDA -- During a meeting with city officials and resident representatives Thursday, owners of the Harbor Island Apartments apologized for the abrupt manner in which they issued eviction notices to as many as 1,200 tenants last week. The owners agreed to extend all of the 30- and 60-day eviction notices to 90 days, and said they may be willing to give evicted tenants a moving "stipend." Just how much compensation has not been discussed. The reason for evictions is a planned $15 million renovation of the sprawling apartment complex, although the owners have yet to file plans or request permits from the city's planning department.

The three Harbor Island residents who attended the meeting said they are not particularly happy with the results. Another meeting has been scheduled for next Tuesday, when all of the evicted tenants will be able to voice their concerns.

"We're saying to them, 'Stop the evictions,' and they're saying back to us, 'Well, we'll give you 30 more days,'" said resident representative Modessa Henderson."

Outside Alameda City Hall, where the meeting took place, about 30 Harbor Island residents chanted, "We shall not be moved" and carried placards that read, "People before profits."

Some said they intend to fight the evictions. "This is all about gentrification and it's all about greed," former longtime resident Lester Dixon said. "These people can't move, they won't move. We're going to fight."

Ian and Mark Sanders, the principals of the Fifteen Group that owns the 650-unit apartment complex, posted eviction notices on the doors of 400 apartments last week. Most of the notices were for 30 and

60 days. Others asked the tenants to vacate their apartments when their leases expire.

The notices stunned many residents, most of whom are low-income and some of whom have lived in the complex for more than 25 years.

Deborah James, a 14-year resident, said she was offended the owners didn't give her more advanced notice of their plans.

At the very least they could have been decent and sent out a letter instead of just posting the eviction notices," she said. "Most of us are long- term tenants and this has just been a slap in the face."

About 150 residents attended Tuesday's City Council meeting to voice their outrage.

City officials said they had no idea eviction notices went out and were caught off guard by the distressed tenants. Assistant City Manager Paul Benoit said the city sent a letter to the owners calling their approach "inhuman."

Jason Keadjian, a spokesman for the Fifteen Group, said the sudden evictions were a "misstep" and the owners regret not being more proactive with tenants.

We apologize for the stress our plans have caused," he said. "We are working now to remedy the situation in a way that the tenants will be satisfied."

But Francesca Zvinakis, a grandmother who has lived in the complex 29 years, said the only way she would be satisfied is if she did not have to move.

I raised three daughters there," she said. "I don't know where I will go ... all I know is I want to stay in Alameda and I don't know if that will be possible."

The Sanders brothers will hold a public meeting next Tuesday at 7 p.m. The location of the meeting has not been determined, but city officials said it will likely be at one of the schools on the West End.

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Article Last Updated: Saturday, August 07, 2004 - 3:45:29 AM PST

Audit: Nonprofit plagued by thefts

Ex-PUEBLO officials embezzled $185,000, report finds

By Heather MacDonald and Robert Gammon, STAFF WRITERS

OAKLAND -- Former top officials at one of Oakland's fiercest watchdog groups embezzled $185,000 from the organization, leaving it bankrupt, according to a newly released audit of People United for a Better Oakland.

The audit of PUEBLO's finances has also sparked a complaint against Oakland's anti-eviction ordinance, known as Just Cause.

Landlord groups that have long opposed the measure filed a complaint Friday with the city's Public Ethics Commission alleging the 2002 Just Cause campaign might have illegally used taxpayer funds designated for PUEBLO.

"The idea that tax money might have been used to fund a political campaign -- that's terrible," said Wayne Rowland of Oakland-based Rowland Property Management. "The public needs to know what happened to their money."

PUEBLO is a nonprofit organization that received

$200,000 from the city through its Oakland Fund for Children and Youth in 2000-01.

Rashidah Grinage, a member of PUEBLO and its principal spokeswoman, said she had not seen any evidence the group's funds were used for the Just Cause campaign, but acknowledged it was possible.

Grinage said the relationship between PUEBLO and Just Cause was "unapproved and unauthorized" by PUEBLO's former board of directors, which was dismissed in March.

"It's very, very clear that the board wasn't on top of the spending decisions and that's what led to the dire situation we're in now," Grinage said.

A police investigation of PUEBLO and its former top leaders has been on hold while Henry Levy, an Oakland certified public accountant, completed the audit.

Grinage said she hopes the police, who are often targets of PUEBLO's scorn and criticism, would pursue the matter "vigorously."

Levy's audit, released July 23, found PUEBLO's former top officials wrote and cashed checks for more than $130,000 and racked up $55,000 in credit card expenditures "which appear to have no relevance to the work and mission of the organization."

We believe that $185,000 was the actual embezzled amount," according to the audit. "We believe there is significant evidence of wrongdoing."

Levy was not available for comment late Friday afternoon.

The audit also found PUEBLO's former top officials failed to report $465,000 in expenditures to the former board of directors, beginning in March 1, 2002 through March 5, 2004.

Levy said he could not conclude which of the former top officials, or how many of them, were involved with the alleged embezzlement. According to Levy, many of the credit card purchases were made by people not employed at the time by PUEBLO.

While transactions in the name of one person accounted for $100,000 of the misspent funds, it is not clear whether he or she was solely responsible, Levy concluded in the audit.

Some of the questionable purchases were for clothing, jewelry and entertainment, Grinage said.

On at least one occasion a contribution to PUEBLO ended up in the personal account of one of the group's employees, the audit concluded.

In addition, Levy concluded PUEBLO officials overstated the health of the organization in 2003, reporting it had more than $165,000 in its account when it only had $2,000 on hand.

The audit also said PUEBLO's 2002 tax filing was not reliable. And even though the group reported receiving $1 million from March 2002 to March 2004, the audit said PUEBLO is now "out of funds."

Levy blamed some of the problems on lax oversight by the board of directors, but laid most of the responsibility on the former top employees of PUEBLO.

The management structure of the organization during the time period covered by the audit included PUEBLO Executive Director Dawn Phillips; Just Cause Executive Director Adam Gold; PUEBLO Operations Analyst Cameron Yee; PUEBLO Operations Director Christopher Donaldson; and PUEBLO Office Manager Gabriela Gonzales.

Yee left PUEBLO in 2002, Donaldson in 2003 and Phillips, Gold and Gonzales were fired in March.

Phillips and Gold were not available for comment late Friday afternoon, while the others could not be reached. In the past, Phillips has denied personally benefiting from any of the misspent funds.

Although the audit's findings are troubling for the organization, there is no specific indication any of the $185,000 in embezzled funds went directly to the Just Cause campaign.

However, the audit revealed PUEBLO, which included Just Cause, used just one bank account for all of its funds.

Just Cause, known as Measure EE, narrowly passed in November 2002 and makes it more difficult for landlords to evict tenants in Oakland.

Opponents of the measure, who have filed suit to overturn it, said they believe PUEBLO funds might have been used to support Measure EE because the campaign appeared to spend far more money than it reported to the Oakland City Clerk's office.

E-mail Heather MacDonald at

hmacdonald [at] angnewspapers.com and Robert Gammon at rgammon [at] angnewspapers.com .

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