In the News

Advocating for a Moratorium on Poverty Tows in California

Tuesday, March 17, 2020 |

In response to the growing pandemic, EBCLC joined 22 partnering organizations in urging Governor Newsom to issue an Executive Order placing an immediate moratorium on vehicle tows that are not a risk to public safety or criminal enforcement. Halting vehicle towing will slow the spread of COVID-19 by allowing essential service workers to safely transport to and from work such as hospitals and grocery stores, as well as ensure that those experiencing homelessness continue to take shelter in their vehicles and away from crowded encampments or shelters.

 

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Coronavirus adds to uncertainty for residents of San Pablo senior center facing eviction

Tuesday, March 17, 2020 |

“The executive order that he issued … to address evictions did almost nothing, as far as we can tell, and basically said local jurisdictions you figure it out,” said Meghan Gordon, director of the housing team at East Bay Community Law Center. Tenants “need to be responding depending on which county they live in and whether those courts are open. He could’ve done something and he didn’t.”

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To Stop The Spread Of Coronavirus, California Officials And Attorneys Call For Eviction Bans

Friday, March 13, 2020 |

“We are already in a housing crisis and now we have a housing crisis colliding with a public health crisis,” said Meghan Gordon, housing director of the East Bay Community Law Center, a nonprofit legal aid group in Oakland.

On Wednesday, at the Alameda County State Superior Courthouse in Hayward, Gordon was one of dozens of attorneys standing shoulder to shoulder in a hallway with nearly 100 tenants and landlords during the court’s Wednesday conference day, a mandatory mass meeting judges make renters and landlords attend to try to settle eviction lawsuits instead of taking them trial. Gordon said the daily operations of eviction courts in urban counties create exactly the kinds of mass gatherings which can spread contagious diseases.

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East Bay Community Law Center’s Statement on COVID-19

Wednesday, March 11, 2020 |

EBCLC represents more than thirty years of disrupting the impoverishment, incarceration and destruction of lives. We lean on this history of resilience and resolve during this time of flux. Moreover, we are voicing the concerns of our broad community, and recommending that our government partners take sensible, compassionate steps to advance long-term change in our legal system and value the safety of all people.

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Encampment Sweeps Take Away Homeless People’s Most Important Belongings

Wednesday, March 4, 2020 |

“People are only given a short amount of time in which they have to move everything, and if they can’t, people lose everything,” said Osha Neumann, consulting attorney for the East Bay Community Law Center, who just helped win a $2 million settlement against the California Department of Transportation for destroying homeless folks’ property. (In 2019, I profiled Neumann’s work for the San Francisco Chronicle.) “People are simply cleaned out,” he said. “The day begins with them having what they need to survive, and they come back and don’t have a home.”

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