Hotline Caller Stands Up to Harassing Landlord, Shares Story on TV

Immediately after the home Anthony Moore, his wife, and four kids rent in Bakersfield was foreclosed, Anthony began to get harassed by his new landlord who wanted him out within 3 days. Anthony called Tenants Together's Tenant Foreclosure Hotline and learned that, under the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act, he is entitled to stay in his home until his lease expires next year.

Empowered by this information, Anthony decided to make an example of his new landlord who he suspects is in the business of buying homes at foreclosure and prematurely evicting the tenants. Within a couple of days of calling our hotline, Anthony contacted his local ABC station and got to share his story on the evening news. Check out the video below.

Just Cause Oakland Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Tenants Together member organization, Just Cause Oakland, celebrated its 10th anniversary last night at an extraordinary celebration titled: A Tribute to Justice / Un Tributo a la Justicia. The historic Sweets Ballroom in downtown Oakland, where the event was held was packed with folks paying tribute to justice and to this amazing organization that is building a powerful voice for Oakland's low-income tenants, workers, and communities of color.

The event was emceed by Adrienne Brown of the Ruckus Society and Joel Tena of the East Bay Housing Organizations (EBHO) and featured an incredible line up of honorees, speakers and entertainment including the Rev. Jesse Jackson as a last minute addition, James Rucker of ColorOfChange.org, musicians Kev Choice and Las Bomberas de la Bahia, poet Aimee Suzara, and Santero on the turntables.


Just Cause Oakland member Audrey Miles


Maria Poblet, Co-Director, St. Peters Housing Committee and to her right, Just Cause Oakland Steering Committee member Charlene Wedderburn

Attendees were treated to a moving retrospective through oral histories and multimedia of Just Cause's work over the last ten years including its historic campaign in 2002 to pass the city's Just Cause Eviction Protections ordinance. Since that signature victory, Just Cause has worked with hundreds of residents over the years to stop unfair eviction in their buildings and homes. In 2003 Just Cause fought to protect 50 units of low-income senior housing in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza and were able to get all the units turned over to a non-profit to remain permanently affordable. In 2008 Just Cause successfully fought to keep the California Hotel and other affordable housing buildings open and in that same year fought hard against Prop 98, the landlord-funded statewide attack on rent control.

Certainly, a highlight of the evening was the Reverend Jesse Jackson's appearance which had been announced only a day before the event. The Reverend was very warmly received with a standing ovation and he kept the crowd on its feet throughout his brief speech, leading us in several spirited chants including "Housing is a Human Right!" and "Restructure loans, don't repossess homes!"

The evening's program promised a "Big Announcement" and indeed the exciting news was revealed that Just Cause Oakland and San Francisco's St. Peter's Housing Committee / El Comite de Vivienda San Pedro will be merging into one "fierce" transbay organization. As the St. Peter's website explains, the organizations are "inspired by a shared vision of deepening solidarity between African-American and Latino communities in San Francisco and Oakland, and contributing to the development of a vibrant grassroots movement."

We congratulate Just Cause Oakland on an extraordinary first 10 years and we congratulate Just Cause and its sister organization St. Peter's on their bold new venture together!


Poet Aimee Suzara


James Rucker, Executive Director of ColorOfChange.org


Reverend Jackson with Tenants Together Program Coordinator, Gabe Treves

Huffington Post covers Predatory Equity

Huffington Post ran an excellent piece today by David Jones of the Community Service Society (CSS) of New York about "predatory equity," an issue that has profoundly affected many tenants in East Palo Alto, San Francisco, and other cities in California.

Last February, Tenants Together participated in a Congressional forum in Washington D.C. hosted by our cross-country allies CSS, on the topics of predatory equity and tenants in foreclosure.

Predatory equity is a term coined by housing advocates to describe a particularly nasty form of real estate investment that relies on the displacement of tenants from rent regulated housing to turn profits. In these schemes investors pay more for rental properties than rental income can justify with the explicit intention of evicting existing tenants and raising rents.

Two major predatory equity schemes in New York City and East Palo Alto have been all over the news lately as they have both begun to collapse, proving that not only are these schemes unethical, but they're also very risky investments. In both these instances, the tenants played a very significant role in the downfall of the schemes as they organized and fought back, refusing to let greedy investment firms destroy their communities.

Unfortunately, CalPERS, the pension fund for California Public Employees, has been heavily involved in both the East Palo Alto and NYC schemes to the tune of several-hundred million dollars. Tenants Together has called on CalPERS to adopt predatory-free real estate investment policies that will prevent any future involvement in these schemes.

In his Huff Post piece Jones explained that for a long time to come, these collapsing investments will have major detrimental effects on tenants, taxpayers, and the general public. To this list we would add the California public employees whose retirement funds have been hit hard by CalPERS' imprudent investments in these predatory schemes.

Where would San Francisco be without rent control?

The San Francisco Bay Guardian has a great opinion piece this week, marking 30 years of rent control in San Francisco, written by Susan Prentice of the San Francisco Tenants Union.

Where would we be without rent control? The 3oth anniversary of rent control in San Francisco.

This Saturday, the San Francisco Tenants Union will hold a celebration at their offices to mark the anniversary. At the event, our director Dean Preston, will be inducted into the Tenants Hall of Fame!

Tenants Together featured in National Radio Project Piece

Check out this excellent in-depth piece called "Renters, Rights and Resistance" on tenants in the foreclosure crisis. It's part of a series called "How We Survive" on Making Contact from the National Radio Project:
http://www.radioproject.org/archive/2009/3609.html

The program opens with a moving audio collage of interviews from tenants in foreclosure situations who contacted us through our tenant foreclosure hotline. It also includes an interview with Dean Preston, our Executive Director.

Adam Gold from Tenants Together member organization, Just Cause Oakland, talks about Oakland's just cause eviction law and how it has helped keep thousands of Oakland tenants in their homes.

In the final segment, the piece ties today's tenant struggles into eviction resistance struggles of the past and includes interviews conducted by Studs Terkel and excerpts from the 1976 documentary "Union Maids."

CalPERS must adopt predatory-free investment criteria

As the New York Times reported today, another predatory equity investment for CalPERS, California's public employee pension fund, has run into serious trouble. This time it's their investment along with Tishman Speyer Properties and Black Rock Realty in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village in New York City, a purchase three years ago that amounted to the biggest American real estate deal in history. Now it appears the buyers will be unable to meet their debt obligations.

Just last week we learned from news reports that CalPERS' investment in Page Mill Properties' predatory scheme in East Palo Alto was appearing to go bust.

Housing advocates have coined the term "predatory equity" to refer to overleveraged real estate investments that rely on the the displacement of tenants from regulated rental housing in order to raise rents and turn a profit.

Housing advocates have argued that, not only are predatory equity schemes despicable because they displace tenants as an essential piece of their business plan, but also that these investments are terribly risky financially. The real estate investors at CalPERS are learning this the hard way, though it's been much worse for the numerous tenants who have lost their homes to these schemes of greed.

It is not clear how much staff at CalPERS actually knew about the specific nature of Page Mill Properties' sinister plans in EPA when the pension fund committed $100 million dollars to the project because CalPERS has not been forthcoming. Last year, Tenants Together filed a public records act request to get a copy of Page Mill's investment plan, but CalPERS refused the request on the grounds of confidentiality. If CalPERS knew that they would be displacing low and middle income tenants then this would be a very serious stain on their reputation and they should be roundly denounced for it. If, on the other hand, they were unaware that Page Mill intended to displace tenants, then clearly CalPERS needs a policy procedure that will screen out predatory real estate investments.

Tenants Together has called on CalPERS to adopt "predatory-free" policies that will screen out predatory real estate investments and prevent the pension fund from ever getting involved in such investments in the future. As has been made clear in the last few days, not only are these investments hurting tenants who live in the rental properties purchased in the schemes, but they're also proving to be very poor investments. By investing in predatory equity schemes, CalPERS is failing in both it's ethical and fiduciary responsibilities.

From today's New York Times article, "Buyers of Huge Manhattan Complex Face Default Risk:"

" . . the purchase of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village was one of the most publicized and controversial of its deals in recent years. The winning bid presumed the partnership could increase profits by replacing rent-stabilized residents with much higher-paying tenants after renovating and deregulating apartments.

But the existing rents covered less than half of the annual debt service on the loans. And they have been unable to convert apartments to market rates as quickly as they had imagined. "

The fact that the "winning bid presumed the partnership could increase profits by replacing rent-stabilized resident with much higher-paying tenants" shows this was a classic case of predatory equity.

It's high time for CalPERS to apologize to its members and to affected tenants for its involvement in these unethical and financially risky predatory equity schemes and it's time for the pension fund to adopt investment criteria that will prevent it from every happening again.

Predatory Landlord’s Scheme Starts To Unravel in East Palo Alto

It's been a tough week for predatory East Palo Alto landlord, Page Mill Properties.

On Tuesday not only did tenants score a big victory against Page Mill in court, but news also came out that the real estate investment company may be losing its 1700 some units in EPA due to foreclosure after missing a $50 million payment to Wells Fargo. And after their recent attempt to begin the process of removing the west side of EPA from the city limits, it'd be hard to argue they didn't have it coming.

Legal Troubles

On September 1, San Mateo Superior Court Judge Steven Dylina granted plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction in the closely watched Oberle v. Page Mill Properties class action lawsuit. The injunction will bar Page Mill and its related companies from collecting or enforcing rent increases that do not comply with the limits of the East Palo Alto Rent Stabilization Ordinance. The ruling represents a major setback for Page Mill's plans in East Palo Alto.

East Palo Alto tenants, organized by the Fair Rent Coalition, showed up in force and packed the chambers for the hearing that was held in a different city and that lasted the full day.

Chris Lund, a Page Mill resident and tenacious organizer with the EPA Fair Rent Coalition commented, "The judge's rulings are significant and unambiguous victories for East Palo Alto tenants. Page Mill's lender, Wells Fargo, and its partner, CalPERS, should take note."

(As we've explained in previous posts, CalPERS, the state's public employee pension fund has invested $100 million in Page Mill, effectively investing the funds of working people in a scheme to displace working people from their homes.)

As we've reported before, after gobbling up more than half of the rent-controlled apartments in East Palo Alto, Page Mill Properties immediately began imposing huge rent increases and evicting tenants at unprecedented rates. The company has repeatedly sued the city over local laws protecting tenants and filed unsuccessful petitions to raise rents. Page Mill Properties has also invoked the controversial Ellis Act to evict outspoken tenant activists, prompting accusations that the evictions are retaliatory.

The Oberle litigation involves Page Mill's effort to exploit a "mom-and-pop" exemption from the local rent law. Under the exemption, owners of four or fewer units are not subject to the rent increase limitations of the RSO. Page Mill created numerous companies, each to own four or fewer units, and then these companies imposed huge rent increases claiming to be exempt from the ordinance.

The Court squarely rejected Page Mill's argument that each of its corporate entities was to be considered separately. Applying the alter ego doctrine, the court disregarded the corporate forms set up by Page Mill in evaluating whether these entities could qualify for the exemption as owners of less than five units. The Court found that the tenant plaintiffs had shown such a "unity of interest" that the separate corporate personalities "do not in reality exist," and that the multiple entities had been used as conduits for a single enterprise. The court determined that recognizing the corporate entities would lead to an inequitable result.

The hearing lasted the entire day on Tuesday. Plaintiffs' counsel, Robert Hawk and Ryan Marsh of the law firm Hogan & Hartson, successfully argued that Page Mill's companies inconsistently claimed to be a single entity when it served their purposes, but then claimed separateness when trying to evade tenant protections through the "mom-and-pop" exemption.

The most moving part of the hearing came near the end, when, after hours of technical legal arguments, Ryan Marsh went through the stories of individual tenants whose declarations had been submitted to the court. Marsh offered stories of tenants whose rent increased from 45% to 75% in a single year under Page Mill ownership. He noted individual tenants who are forced to work overtime to afford the rents, including one tenant who is paying 90% of his income to rent, another who had to stop taking heart medication due to lack of funds, and another who was forced to go to a food bank because of the rent increases.

Financial Troubles

On the same day as the hearing, the San Jose Mercury News reported that Page Mill is facing financing problems that could lead to foreclosure. According to the article, "ownership of more than 1,700 units in East Palo Alto is in question after the company failed to make a $50 million payment to Wells Fargo Bank last month." Page Mill is urging Wells Fargo to renegotiate the terms of the loan, but tenant advocates question why Wells Fargo should renegotiate with a property owner with Page Mill's track record. The article also notes maintenance problems at Page Mill buildings, with pools recently being shut down by city health officials (including one that is bright green with algae), raising further questions about why Page Mill should be allowed to continue managing the property.

Remarkable Audacity

On August 27, The Mercury News delivered the shocking and disturbing headline, "Page Mill seeks to remove west side of East Palo Alto from City Limits." This from a company that absurdly claims to be engaged in a constructive "public/private partnership" with the City of East Palo Alto. In fact, according to city officials, a "partnership" between Page Mill and the city never existed, and Page Mill has repeated taken an adversarial approach to the city, including filing numerous lawsuits against the city that have been a substantial drain on the small city's resources.

On June 30 an attorney for one of Page Mill's subsidiaries filed documents asking the San Mateo Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) to remove areas west and south of Highway 101 from the city's "sphere of influence." As Mercury News reported:

"If approved, the move could be a first step toward unincorporating part of the city that had struggled a long time to form."

This is an extraordinarily audacious and transparent attempt by Page Mill to remove the rent controlled units they purchased and manage from the jurisdiction of East Palo Alto's Rent Stabilization Ordinance.

LAFCo's executive director, Martha Poyatos said this was "a pretty unusual request" and that she would recommend against its adoption "noting that formation of a community services there would be financially infeasible and contrary to LAFCo's mission of simplifying and consolidating municipal services for greater efficiency."

As always, we'll keep you updated on the ongoing battle between the people of EPA and Page Mill Properties.