Pay to Play? Democratic Lawmakers Selling Out Renters

by Dean Preston

A lot of attention in recent months has focused on the “pay to play” problem in Washington D.C., with political leaders holding health care reform hostage for months in no small part because of the campaign contributions they receive from the insurance industry. Less attention is paid to how similar dynamics unfold in Sacramento with our state elected officials. Is there any other explanation for why a lawmaker would choose this moment in history, with all the real problems our state faces, to prioritize legislation to gut rent control protections for mobile home residents?

More than a million Californians live in mobile home parks, disproportionately seniors of moderate income. Residents are simultaneously renters and owners – they own their mobile homes, but rent the land underneath from the park owner. Recognizing that these are some of the few affordable housing opportunities in California, many local jurisdictions have adopted rent control laws that apply to mobile home parks.

Mobilehome park rent control has been under attack from the mega-landlords that own the parks. Park owners have poured millions into attempts to gut local rent control laws. Voters have overwhelmingly rejected these efforts, such as in June 2008 when Proposition 98, a measure to eliminate rent control and other renter protections, was defeated by a huge margin.

Democratic Assemblymember Charles Calderon (not to be confused with his brother, Senator Ron Calderon) is not listening to the will of California voters. Instead, Assemblymember Calderon is leading the fight to strip mobile home parks of strong rent control protections. Calderon’s bill, AB 761, would result in higher rents for mobilehome spaces, while also reducing the equity that mobilehome owners have in their homes. The controversial bill changes the rules midstream on residents for the benefit of park owners. Having failed to secure passage of the bill last year, Assemblymember Calderon has brought it back in this legislative session.

Self-described as a leader whose “passion is a concern for the poor and … working-class constituents in East Los Angeles,” Calderon was recently selected by Speaker John Perez as the Majority Floor Leader of the Assembly. With AB 761, Calderon continues to advocate for a law that delivers nothing for his constituents, and benefits a handful of mobilehome park mega-landlords.

Calderon has received substantial donations from park owners. Click here to see a recent (December 2009) donation from the Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association.

There are two possibilities here: either Assemblymember Calderon is championing this legislation to deliver for a campaign donor, or he actually believes that one of the most pressing issues facing California today is that mobilehome park owners don’t make enough money.

Of course, Assemblymember Calderon is not the only Democratic lawmaker to vote against mobilehome residents last year. To see how other Assemblymembers voted on Calderon’s bill, click here.

Assemblymember Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco), recently selected Speaker Pro Tem, not only voted for Calderon’s bill last year, but championed her own bill, AB 481, to make it easier for park owners to strip mobilehome residents of rent control protections without due process. Ma does not have a single mobilehome park in her district, so it is curious that she has made attacking mobilehome rent control laws a priority legislative issue. Assemblymember Ma receives thousands in donations from the Western Manufactured Home Association PAC. Click here ($1900), here ($2000) and here ($3600) for details.

All Californians need to be concerned when legislators represent the interests of a few mega-landlords in opposition to the working people who are their constituents, especially when the mega-landlords are filling those legislators’ campaign coffers.

This post is also published at Beyond Chron.

Bill Introduced in Congress to Extend Federal Tenant Protection Law

By Dean Preston

With the foreclosure crisis certain to continue for years, housing advocates are hoping to make permanent the new protections for tenants in foreclosed properties that became law in May 2009. The Protecting Tenants At Foreclosure Act of 2009 (PTFA) allows tenants to stay in their homes after foreclosure for at least 90 days or until the end of their lease term, whichever is later, with limited exceptions. The law is scheduled to sunset on December 31, 2012.

Thanks to the National Low Income Housing Coalition for the following update on Rep. Ellison’s important effort to remove the sunset provision:

On March 4, Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) introduced legislation to repeal the sunset date for the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA).

The PTFA, which was enacted May 20, 2009 (P.L. 111-22) requires the immediate successor in interest at foreclosure (the person or entity acquiring title at foreclosure) to provide bona fide tenants with 90 days’ notice prior to eviction. Bona fide tenants with leases must be allowed to occupy the property until the end of the lease term, except the lease can be terminated on 90 days notice if the unit is sold to a purchaser who will occupy the property. Tenants with Section 8 housing choice voucher assistance have additional protections that allow them to retain both their Section 8 lease and require that the successor in interest assume the housing assistance payment contract associated with that lease.

Currently, these provisions are set to expire at the end of 2012. H.R. 4766 would eliminate the sunset in the current law and extend the PTFA protections indefinitely. Representatives Maxine Waters (D-CA), Michael Capuano (D-MA), and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) joined Mr. Ellison in introducing this bill. H.R. 4766 was referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.

Despite the fact that many banks and their agents violate the PTFA, there is no question that the law has had a big impact in California and across the country. The PTFA provides tenants much-needed time to find new housing when they are pushed out after foreclosure. Of course, the PTFA does not solve the fundamental problem which is that banks continue to evict tenants after foreclosure for no good reason, but the federal law does provide an important minimum protection for tenants.

Tenants Together is tracking the progress of the federal effort to extend the PTFA beyond the current sunset date. For more information on the PTFA and other tenant protection laws, be sure to sign up for our email updates at www.tenantstogether.org. The PTFA is also discussed in our recent Shelterforce article entitled “The Federal Move to Protect Tenants.”

Dean Preston, the Executive Director of Tenants Together, publishes a weekly column for Beyond Chron.

Federal Report Released on Best Practices for Bed Bug Control in Multifamily Housing

With funding from the Environmental Protection Agency, The National Center for Healthy Housing recently issued a report titled:

What’s Working for Bed Bug Control in Multifamily Housing

From the report's summary:

There is no silver bullet for eliminating bed bugs. They present a challenge to modern pest control that the industry is still struggling to meet. To make up for the lack of chemical power we have for battling this insect, additional people and tools must be involved. Bed bug success stories usually involve people who live and work in a building (including a pest management professional) coming together as a team to battle this pest. Throughout this paper you will see how communication and cooperation among residents, staff, and the pest control service provider are keys to success.

Read the full report.

***

The New York Times published a fascinating article this month about a renter's "best friend" in detecting apartment bed bug infestation.

Dogs like Cruiser, the one featured in the article, can "can inspect a room in minutes, whereas lesser mammals like human beings need hours to conduct a visual inspection," according to the article.

Bedbug-sniffing dogs, adorable yet stunningly accurate — entomology researchers at the University of Florida report that well-trained dogs can detect a single live bug or egg with 96 percent accuracy — are the new and furry front line in an escalating and confounding domestic war.

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Panel to Review Torture Memo Author’s Anti-Rent Control Ruling

By Dean Preston

Torture memo author Jay S. Bybee, now a federal judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, authored a controversial decision in September 2009 to invalidate a local rent control law in the city of Goleta, California. The Goleta law provides a strong form of rent control (known as “vacancy control”) for residents in mobile home parks. Last week, the Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit ordered review of Judge Bybee’s anti-rent control ruling. Chances are the decision will be reversed, sparing mobile home residents in Goleta (and elsewhere in California) from higher rents and loss of equity in their mobile homes.

It is hard to think about Judge Bybee without thinking of his involvement in the infamous torture memos. After news of the torture memos came out last year, the New York Times called for Bybee’s impeachment. The Times wrote: “these memos make it clear that Mr. Bybee is unfit for a job that requires legal judgment and a respect for the Constitution.” Nonetheless, to this day, Judge Bybee sits on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

In September 2009, Judge Bybee infuriated rent control advocates by authoring a decision striking down a mobile home rent control ordinance. In the decision, Judge Bybee bent over backwards to conclude that the park owner was denied “investment backed expectations” because of the ordinance, notwithstanding the fact that the park owner bought the park with full knowledge of the rent control law.

At the time, I noted the irony in Judge Bybee’s decision: “the very person that couldn't find a right to be free from torture in our constitution has now found a constitutional right of mobile home park owners to be free from a City's rent control law.” As I pointed out then, the legal reasoning of Judge Bybee’s opinion was totally flawed.

It appears that a majority of the sitting judges on the Ninth Circuit may agree that Judge Bybee’s decision was lawless, much like his torture memos. On March 12, 2010, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski ordered that the controversial Guggenheim v. City of Goleta case will be reviewed en banc by the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: “Upon the vote of a majority of nonrecused active judges, it is ordered that this case be reheard en banc ... The three-judge panel opinion shall not be cited as precedent by or to any court of the Ninth Circuit.” En banc review means that a panel of 11 judges will now review and decide the case.

The Ninth Circuit now has an opportunity to get this right. In the meantime, park owners cannot rely on the Guggenheim case to collect higher rents from mobile home residents across the state, most of whom are low- or middle-income and struggling in the current economy.

The big park owners share a common goal with other landlord zealots in California: eliminate rent control wherever it exists. They failed to accomplish this goal at the ballot box when their measure, Prop. 98, was defeated by a large margin in June 2008. So they have turned to the courts, trusting that unelected judges will serve their interests and accomplish what they have been unable to accomplish through the democratic process. Judge Bybee was willing to oblige. However, expect the Ninth Circuit to follow the law and reverse the erroneous Guggenheim decision.

Dean Preston is the Executive Director of Tenants Together, California’s Statewide Organization for Renters’ Rights. For more information about Tenants Together, visit www.tenantstogether.org.

U.S. Census Bureau says renters are among the "hardest to count"

With the 2010 census set to begin in a few weeks, advocates for "hard to count" groups -- which includes minorities, the homeless, the poor, and renters -- are trying to raise awareness about the importance of accurate counting for these communities.

From the Patterson Irrigator:

“The census has always been important, but more now than ever,” said Sallie Ayala-Perez, regional coordinator for the National Association of Latino and Appointed Officials’ census outreach in the Central Valley. “It’s imperative we count everyone, because we cannot afford to miss out on any money that will help our community survive this economic crisis.”

. . . Census workers have said they realize getting an accurate count might be hard to actually accomplish, as California has 22 percent of the nation’s “hardest to count” populations. Those groups traditionally include the homeless, poor families, minorities, children and people who are isolated by language.

This year, the U.S. Census Bureau has also acknowledged that renters, families living in large households and individuals whose homes have gone through or are in foreclosure should be considered part of that group.

People should know that the "census bureau is legally prevented from sharing someone’s personal information with anyone else. That pledge of confidentiality extends to other government agencies, such as the FBI, the CIA, the welfare department, the immigration department and even the president."

Wells Fargo is now East Palo Alto's largest landlord

On Tuesday, predatory landord, Page Mill Properties, officially lost all 1816 of its rental units in East Palo Alto to foreclosure.

With no bids made on the properties at the foreclosure auction, Wells Fargo Bank assumed ownership and became the largest landlord in the city.

The story has been widely covered in the media, including the San Jose Mercury News, KGO-TV, the San Francisco Business Times, and Palo Alto Online.

Many in East Palo Alto are glad to see Page Mill leave town.

"This creates the opportunity for justice to be done and for the law to be observed," said William Webster, a member of the city's rent stabilization board who attended the auction. "This may be the beginning of a new era of greater responsibility."

Stay tuned for more posts on this evolving story.

Legal aid lawyer calls out lenders for bullying and displacing tenants

Robert Doggett of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid appears on Fox News to talk about the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act, a federal law signed into law last year that gives tenants in foreclosed properties the right to stay in their homes for 90 days or the term of their lease, whichever is longer.

Unfortunately many foreclosing lenders, and the real estate agents they hire, are bullying tenants and not respecting their rights under the law.

Dogget says that Fannie Mae has been one of the worst offenders. Read more in his blog posts: Fannie’s Lawyers Falsely Certify Compliance With PTAF in eviction context and Fannie itself won't certify compliance with PTAF-slows program to stablize neighborhoods.

California Attorney General Should Follow Connecticut AG’s Lead: Go after banks, realtors and lawyers that violate tenant rights

by Dean Preston

Across our state, realtors and lawyers working on behalf of banks are violating federal law by illegally pushing renters out of their homes after foreclosure. The results are devastating, with thousands of tenants being driven into homelessness and communities left with vacancies and blight. Responding to a similar pattern of illegal evictions in Connecticut, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal recently announced a new initiative to aid tenants of foreclosed properties. Blumenthal issued cease-and-desist letters warning law firms, real estate companies, banks and loan servicers to stop illegal evictions. Here in California, tenants want to know whether Attorney General Edmund G. (“Jerry”) Brown, Jr., will follow Blumenthal’s lead and take decisive actions to protect vulnerable tenants.

The Protecting Tenants At Foreclosure Act of 2009 (PTFA) allows tenants to stay in their homes after foreclosure for at least 90 days or until the end of their lease term, whichever is later. In cities with just cause for eviction ordinances, tenants may not have to vacate at all after foreclosure. Despite these laws, real estate agents and lawyers working for banks routinely violate tenant rights. Our organization, Tenants Together, operates California’s only statewide hotline for tenants in foreclosure situations. We receive calls every day from tenants around the state who are being lied to about their rights and illegally evicted from their homes by bank lawyers and real estate agents.

Blumenthal’s February 2010 press release is worth quoting at length, since it shows a profound understanding of the damage that these illegal evictions have on tenants and entire communities.

“Evicted tenants are typically current on their rent, but face eviction because of their landlord's financial troubles. In many cases, real estate agents have pressured tenants to leave, without informing them of their rights under federal law. Some banks begin eviction procedures immediately upon completing foreclosure, despite the consequences for tenants and a federal law that requires a 90-day delay.”

"Tenants have rights to remain until their lease ends -- rights that deserve respect and enforcement. We're warning banks and real estate interests: foreclosure is not excuse for illegal eviction. These cease-and-desist letters send a message to powerful property owners that foreclosure gives them no right to engage in automatic eviction en masse.”

“Fast-track evictions not only harm tenants, but turn vacant properties into eyesores and even crime havens, diminishing values neighborhood wide.” "Tenants should remain in homes as long as possible -- potentially providing extra income to the new property owner, and benefiting everyone.”

"Tenants in foreclosed properties -- victims of their landlord's financial failures -- deserve to be treated fairly and lawfully when forced to find a new home. Law firms, realtors and lenders have moral and legal obligations to provide fair notice and time for tenants to find alternative housing after foreclosures. We are alerting law firms, lenders and real estate companies that they must follow this law or face legal action."

"Foreclosures devastate property owners, but also tenants whose lives are unfairly uprooted and incredibly inconvenienced. Searching for alternative housing can be difficult, costly and time-consuming -- requiring reasonable advance notice before eviction."

Blumenthal’s office sent the cease-and-desist letters to at least 15 banks and mortgage servicers, nine law firms and six real estate companies.

California has more than its share of real estate agents and attorneys engaging in illegal efforts to displace tenants. Attorney General Jerry Brown should take strong action to protect these tenants and hold realtors and lawyers, as well as the banks that employ them, accountable. In addition, the Department of Real Estate and California Bar Association should investigate and discipline their licensees who violate federal, state and local tenant protection laws.

Please take a minute to write Attorney General Jerry Brown’s office (or call him at (800) 952-5225) and urge him to go after banks, lawyers and real estate agents that violate the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act and other tenant protection laws.