Victory For Oakland's Public Housing Tenants

Victory For Oakland's Public Housing Tenants

Superior Court Judge Blocks Evictions

By Lynda Carson May 21, 2006

In a stunning reversal of numerous unlawful evictions, during the week of May 15, Superior Court Judge Winifred Y. Smith issued 2 rulings that blocked the evictions of Oakland's public housing tenants from Lockwood Gardens, a Hope Vl project.

"We are encouraged by the rulings of the court, and are pleased that the court recognizes that the families facing eviction by the Oakland Housing Authority are not unlawful occupants," said Jorge Aguilar of the Eviction Defense Center. "We further believe that these same rulings will also have a positive effect on all the other families still facing eviction under similiar circumstances."

The community was shocked recently to learn of fraud and corruption at the Oakland Housing Authority (OHA), when it was revealed that 34 families facing eviction from Lockwood Gardens were actually scammed out of their security deposits by Caroline Wilson, an employee of the Housing Authority who had later fled the state with the stolen cash.

During late April 2006, the Oakland Housing Authority (OHA) claimed that at least 34 families facing eviction from Lockwood Gardens were unlawful occupants (squatters) who have illegally gained possession of their housing units. OHA officials moved to evict and served them 30-day, forcible-detainer eviction notices in an effort to remove them from their housing.

"I was terrified recently when the OHA Police showed up at my door around 10 p.m. at night, accusing my family of committing fraud to move into this townhouse; and they served me a five-day notice to surrender my home to the OHA, or else," said Ms. Kelly, a tenant facing eviction from Lockwood Gardens.

According to David Lipsetz a Senior Policy Analyst at the OHA, he said, "The tenants worked with a former clerk to gain access to the units. The OHA does not have any files on the families, and the OHA does not believe that any of the families signed a lease before moving into those units. Forcible detainers are standard procedure for those that have illegally moved into the OHA's public housing units."

Despite the claims by the OHA that the families are unlawful occupants who must be evicted, the Superior Court of Alameda County believes other-wise, and have blocked the unlawful evictions from taking place.

According to the rulings issued by Superior Court Judge Smith, "on the basis of the facts pleaded and judicially noticeable, defendant's entered the property with consent and a claim for forcible detainer will not lie."

Judge Smith's ruling blocked the evictions because the facts did not show that the families gained possession of their rental units illegally as the OHA had originally claimed, but instead have shown that the "Exihibit to the Complaint indicates that Plaintiff permitted Defendant to enter property."

In addition, based upon documents submitted to the hearing, the court is convinced that the Housing Authority accepted rent payments from the families that are being accused of moving into their rental housing units illegally.

However in the same ruling issued by Judge Smith, the judge bent over backwords to allow the Housing Authority to amend their complaint against the families if possible, and said, "The court having considered the pleadings, briefing and arguments submitted in support of and in opposition to the demurrer, and good cause appearing, it is hereby ORDERED that the demurrer is SUSTAINED WITH LEAVE TO AMEND to permit Plaintiff to allege, if possible, allegations sufficient to support a cause of action for forcible detainer or any other cognizable cause of action against this Defendant."

Jorge Aguilar of the Eviction Defense Center believes that the OHA is in no position to amend their complaint to evict the families, but believes that they may have to try a new approach and start all over again with Unlawful Detainers, or to seek an Action for Ejectment which may take a year or more to go through the courts.

"The court's rulings further re-enforces our clients position that the wrong doing was done on the part of the Housing Authority. At this point we hope that the Housing Authority will re-consider it's position and allow the families to remain in their housing. It's possible that the OHA may seek an Action for Ejectment or file an Unlawful Detainer against the families, but we hope that they know better than to try that," said Aguilar.

Winou Wakeyo had her eviction blocked by the court, and in response said, "Thank GOD! GOD is my best friend in this country. All my life, I have believed in GOD. In America, this government is very good for refugees. As a refugee, your all alone. No one sees you, and no one hears you. For a while I slept in a store like a homeless person. I think GOD helped me through this. I thank the courts and this government for helping me out and I am very grateful."

This whole controversy of mass evictions became apparent, after many families seeking legal help to fight their evictions contacted some local law firms for assistance. The families claimed that they were being accused of moving into their public housing units illegally by the Oakland Housing Authority, but believed that they had not done anything wrong, and were being unfairly evicted.

A meeting was held on March 20 at the East Bay Community Law Center for all the families facing eviction. When the tenants started sharing what had occurred to them, most of the families involved suddenly realized that Carolyn Wilson of the OHA had stolen their security deposits, and skipped out of town.

Upon hearing of the courts move to block some of the evictions occurring at Lockwood Gardens, another tenant claimed that she was ecstatic, hoped that the Housing Authority will not try to evict again, and said that she wanted to move forward with her life.

Currently, out of the 34 families facing eviction, the Eviction Defense Center along with attorney Bob Salinas, of Sundeen Salinas & Pyle, is representing nine families in court, and attorney's Laura Lane and Marc Janowitz of the East Bay Community Law Center are representing 12 families.

As more of the eviction cases continue to move forward through the courts, the attorneys representing the families facing eviction hope that the Superior Court of Alameda County will continue to block the Housing Authority's attempts to make these families homeless.

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