EBALDC nonprofit housing developer lays off 81 employees at 24 properties

EBALDC nonprofit housing developer lays off 81 employees at 24 properties

Winn Residential to become EBALDC’s residential property manager

By Lynda Carson - August 19, 2026

Oakland - According to an August 11, 2026 message on the website for the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC), it says, “For over 50 years, East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC) has served communities across the East Bay to build healthy, vibrant and safe neighborhoods. To ensure our long-term sustainability and strengthen our community-building work, we are transitioning our residential property management work to a third-party partner, WinnResidential, over the next few months.
 
As providers of quality affordable housing, we have faced the same cost pressures that are affecting the broader housing sector. This structural change in how we operate gives us the infrastructure to absorb those costs more efficiently while focusing our internal resources on deepening our impact. We explored many possible options, and though a difficult decision, this is the best path that ensures we are able to continue serving our community.
  
This decision is an investment in our long-term mission and sustainability and will help us ensure we are able to continue to provide the highest level of support to our community and residents. We are incredibly grateful to our team for their commitment to our mission over the years and to have found an aligned partner who is committed to interviewing our property management site staff to bring them into their team and create continuity in this process. EBALDC will continue to have robust oversight across all of our properties, through this transition and beyond. By Emma Falley|August 11, 2026|News.”

WinnResidential:

WinnResidential is the property management company for Boston-based WinnCompanies.
Reportedly in an August 17, 2026 article with Oakland Voices, in part it says, “East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation plans to outsource its property management department and eliminate 82 jobs in October, according to a state filing.
 
The incoming property management company, Boston-based WinnCompanies, said it will hire all 62 employees working at the 23 affected affordable housing communities. 
EBALDC filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) on Aug. 11 in preparation for the fall transition.

The EBALDC employees are not unionized and have no rights to replace, or “bump,” other workers, according to the notice. Affected employees include 23 maintenance technicians, 17 property managers, 11 desk clerks, six assistant property managers, and five custodians. 

“Their positions will remain the same, with comparable salaries and a range of competitive benefits,” said WinnCompanies spokesperson Ed Cafasso.
 
Twenty positions at EBALDC’s San Pablo Avenue headquarters in Oakland will still be cut. 
EBALDC staff did not respond to emailed questions before publication.

WinnResidential: “No cuts are planned”

The transition covers about 1,450 affordable apartments in Oakland, Emeryville, Richmond, and San Pablo. Winn said it is working with EBALDC to maintain current resident services and programs.
 
“No cuts are planned,” Cafasso said. “In fact, we hope to enhance the resident experience at all 23 communities over time.”

According to an August 14, 2026 article with KRON, in part it says, “A nonprofit that operates senior and low-income housing facilities across the East Bay is cutting dozens of jobs as part of a major restructuring. The East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation will be laying off over 80 people at dozens of facilities across Oakland, Emeryville, Richmond, and San Pablo, according to a state filing.

The job cuts were announced on Tuesday and will take effect on Oct. 10 of this year, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice. All the layoffs are permanent.”

Note: The WARN Act requires employers to provide written notice at least 60 days before a mass layoff, plant closure, or relocation occurs. https://data.ydr.com/see-which-companies-announced-mass-layoffs-closings/ebaldc-3850-san-pablo-ave-ca-layoff-permanent/ca-2627-00121/

Additionally, according to an August 13, 2026 article with the SF Chronicle, in part it says, “An Oakland affordable housing and community development nonprofit will lay off its entire property management team and transition to an outside contractor due to rising costs, according to a state filing.

East Bay Asian Local Development Corp. is laying off 81 property management workers and other roles across 21 Oakland locations, plus one each in Emeryville, Richmond and San Pablo. On-site property management workers are being offered jobs by the new contractor, WinnResidential, according to a layoff notice filed with California officials.

“As providers of quality affordable housing, we have faced the same cost pressures that are affecting the broader housing sector. This structural change in how we operate gives us the infrastructure to absorb those costs more efficiently while focusing our internal resources on deepening our impact,” the nonprofit said.

The properties are largely affordable apartment buildings, including the 144-unit San Pablo Hotel at 1955 San Pablo Ave. and 137-unit California Hotel at 3501 San Pablo Ave. Built around 1930, the historic California Hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and previously hosted music icons Billie Holiday, Ray Charles and James Brown.

“This decision is an investment in our long-term mission and sustainability and will help us ensure we are able to continue to provide the highest level of support to our community and residents,” the organization said. “EBALDC will continue to have robust oversight across all of our properties, through this transition and beyond.”

The layoffs include 25 workers based at EBALDC’s headquarters at 1825 San Pablo Ave. in Oakland.

The layoffs are effective Oct. 10. Affected workers include property managers, maintenance technicians, custodians and human resources staff. None is unionized.”

EBALDC Tenants Have Been Left In The Dark:

Apparently, the tenants in EBALDC’s rental properties have been left in the dark about the transition happening in EBALDC, including the fact that WinnResidential will become the new property manager company at EBALDC’s residential property buildings.

The tenants at Effie’s House in Oakland, a 21 unit residential building owned by EBALDC/Ivy Hill Development Corporation, received a mysterious Notice of Intent To Enter notice on 8/17/2026. The notice simply says, they want to enter the tenant’s apartments for an Integrated Property Analysis, INC., inspection on 8/20/2026. When asked for an explanation as to what is happening, the building manager for Effie’s House would only say that EBALDC is in transition, and would not state what is actually happening at EBALDC, and its residential properties, or what the inspection is about, or why it is going to happen.

That’s right. The tenants have not been notified that a new property management company is about to take over at Effie’s House on October 1, 2026, and they have been left totally in the dark about the alarming situation in the 21 unit residential Section 8 Project Based building.

Winn Companies Team: https://www.winncompanies.com/team

Michael T. Putziger is the Chairman, Gilbert J. Winn is the CEO of Winn Companies, and Arthur M. Winn is the Founder and Principal.

According to OpenSecrets, Winn Companies spent $160000 lobbying in 2023, and Winn Companies spent $160000 lobbying in 2022.

Campaign contributions made by Gilbert J. Winn of Boston, MA, may be found by clicking here.

Additionally, campaign contributions made by Arthur M. Winn of Boston, MA, may be found by clicking here.

According to public records with the California Secretary of State, WinnCompanies was incorporated on 12/19/2001, and their status has been terminated, and the inactive date is listed as 5/15/2007. According to the Department of Real Estate (DRE) in California, no matching public record was found for Licensee: WINNCOMPANIES. That’s right. WinnCpmpanies does not have a real estate license for California.

Additional records with DRE reveal that WinnResidential does not have a real estate license to operate in California either.

However, WinnResidential California LP., was incorporated on 6/6/2011, and their status is active. Its general partner is LLAM Realty Management, INC., in Boston, and Michael T. Putziger is listed as Secretary of LLAM Realty Management, INC.

According to DRE, Janet B. Bray is a licensed Designated Officer for LLAM Realty Management, INC., in California, and has a brokers license.

FBI Report about Arthur M. Winn:

According an FBI release a January 31, 2012, in part it says, “BOSTON—Arthur Winn was sentenced today in federal court for violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act’s prohibitions on making campaign contributions in the names of strawmen or conduits.

Winn, 72, of Brookline, was sentenced by U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein to a $100,000 fine after pleading guilty to two counts of making campaign contributions through conduits on Nov. 8, 2011. Winn paid a total of 96 campaign contributions through conduits totaling over $64,000, over nearly an eight-year period.

Winn solicited and made campaign contributions to a wide variety of candidates for elected office with the hope that these elected officials would generally support his company’s development projects, including Winn Columbus Center Limited Partnership’s development of Columbus Center. Columbus Center was a mixed-use development that was to be built over the Massachusetts Turnpike and, at times, was designed to include a luxury hotel, condominiums, retail stores, and other amenities.

Additionally, evidence would have shown that Winn reimbursed persons for campaign contributions that he requested they make to certain federal, state, and local candidates of his choosing. In so doing, he concealed the true source of these contributions from the Federal Election Commission and similar state authorities, and, in some cases, avoided the statutory annual limits on the amounts that persons could contribute to candidates for elected office.

“The concealment of a political donor’s identity, particularly when that donor depends on public financing and the support of public officials as a core part of his business, erodes public confidence in free and fair elections,” said U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz. “The government recommended a six month jail sentence for Mr. Winn because of the seriousness of his conduct and to act as a deterrent for wealthy donors who use conduits to funnel money to political candidates. We will continue to pursue these election crimes and press for incarceration rather than fines, holding individuals accountable for their actions.”

On Nov. 30, 2011, Winn Columbus Center Limited Partnership, the real estate development company in which Winn was a partner, pleaded guilty to multiple violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act’s prohibitions on making campaign contributions in the names of strawmen or conduits. The company was sentenced to a $1.5 million fine and one year of probation by U.S. District Judge Joseph L. Tauro.

In addition, in September 2010, Martin Raffol, another company executive, pleaded guilty to a concealment scheme involving conduit contributions and witness tampering. Raffol was asked to obtain campaign contributions from numerous vendors who performed work for the company for candidates of Winn’s choosing. In response to the increasing demand to solicit these contributions from company vendors, Raffol reimbursed some vendors for the campaign contributions solicited from them. These reimbursements came in, among other forms, payments for inflated or false invoices, including invoices billed to certain publicly subsidized housing communities. The true source of these contributions was disguised from the FEC and state authorities, and, in some cases, circumvented the statutory prohibition on corporate contributions.
In December 2011, Raffol was sentenced to three months of community confinement as part of one year of probation, a $20,000 fine, and community service by U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns.”

WinnCompanies Lawsuits:

Reportedly in 2020, in part an article says, “Three United States Marine Corps families are taking two commercial real estate giants to court over housing conditions at one of the largest Marine bases in the country, Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Six plaintiffs — three Marines and their wives — are seeking to establish a class-action lawsuit against Australian Lendlease Corp. and its American subsidiaries, along with its partner, Boston-based WinnCompanies, for allegedly turning a blind eye to a litany of safety issues at Marine housing the companies operate and lease from the U.S. Navy.

The families have had to deal with leaks, mold, and roach and vermin infestations after the base suffered damage from Hurricane Florence in 2018, a Reuters investigation revealed. The plaintiffs also claim they were subject to bullying, and that Lendlease and WinnCompanies released a false resident feedback survey to avoid further scrutiny.

The families are suing for negligence, breach of contract and are asking the Eastern District U.S. Court in North Carolina, in a lawsuit filed Sept. 18, to grant them an injunction to force the landlords to make repairs and customer service improvements, as well as monetary and punitive damages.

“They should have the right to hold some of their rent back instead of giving it to Lendlease and Winn every month,” said John Hughes, an attorney with Wallace & Graham, representing 1st Sgt. Scott Johnson, Sgt. Garrett Burn and Cpl. William Lewis and their families. Hughes declined to make his clients available for an interview.

Salisbury, North Carolina-based Wallace & Graham is one of four firms representing the Marine families in the proposed class-action suit.”

Major Lawsuit Against WinnCompanies:

<a href="https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=cf5c3a640caff83a&hl=en&gbv=2&q=WinnCompanies%2C+lawsuits&oq=WinnCompanies%2C+lawsuits&aqs=heirloom-srp..">“WinnCompanies and its subsidiary WinnResidential have been named as defendants in multi-district federal antitrust litigation targeting RealPage, Inc. over alleged algorithmic rent price-fixing.”

Reportedly, “WinnCompanies and its subsidiary WinnResidential have been named as defendants in multi-district federal antitrust litigation targeting RealPage, Inc. over alleged algorithmic rent price-fixing. The lawsuit accuses major residential property managers of conspiring to artificially inflate rental prices and restrict housing supply using shared data and software.

Key Details of the RealPage Litigation

• The Allegations: Plaintiffs claim participating landlords coordinated via RealPage's revenue-management software to set supra-competitive, artificial rent prices.


• WinnCompanies' Position: WinnCompanies has denied any wrongdoing, stating they stopped using the software's revenue management features years ago and that the vast majority of their managed portfolio consists of income-restricted, affordable housing units where rent is controlled.


• Case Status: The massive federal litigation involves dozens of property management firms, with ongoing coordinated proceedings and multi-million-dollar settlements reached by various other co-defendants.”


Note: For the sake of transparency Lynda Carson is a long time tenant at Effie’s House, which is soon to be managed by WinnResidential / WinnCompanies, LLAM Realty Management, INC., for EBALDC.

Lynda Carson may be reached at newzland2 [at] gmail.com

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