District 5 Tenants Score Big Win at Court of Appeals

A District 5 building full of long-term tenants defeated their landlord’s attempt to displace them Wednesday. Facing the Board of Appeals, these tenants sought revocation of a permit filed for by their owner that would have caused multiple evictions and the destruction of every unit’s back porch. In a surprise decision, the Board ruled unanimously for the tenants, with one of the board’s more conservative members calling their landlord’s permit application one of the worst cases of abuse of the permit process he’d ever seen. The revocation hopefully represents the end of an attempt by the building’s owner – Prana 8 Investments – to turn a profit on a property at the expense of the city’s affordable rental housing stock and tenants.