OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Creative people and others who live at warehouses and are worried about being evicted in the wake of the deadly fire at the “Ghost Ship” warehouse in Oakland’s Fruitvale district two weeks ago came to a community meeting Friday to learn about their rights.
On December 2, a warehouse in Oakland, California that was being rented out as artist studios burned down, killing 36 people, making it the worst building fire in the US since 2003. While a lot of the media has focused on the issue of artists moving into old industrial spaces, Lane explained that the problems with informal housing were much broader. “There are a lot of low-income people living in converted basements, and converted garages, and converted storage units,” she said.
Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill Number 2819! A California law to protect innocent tenants from damaged credit and blacklists if eviction actions are resolved in their favor.
In 2015, Endia Cleveland – an Oakland native and mother – was hopeful that she and her family would soon have a new apartment to call home. She submitted more than 10 applications but was denied without explanation.
A months-long effort to evict a quadriplegic senior from his South Berkeley apartment is over, after the management company apparently gave up. “Your eviction lawsuit is finally over,” attorney Meghan Gordon of the East Bay Community Law Center told tenant Michael Pachovas in a letter this month. “I will be closing your case at EBCLC because this matter has been settled,” she added.
Fueled by the injustice he encountered as a student advocate, Phil Hernandez ’16 has turned a simple idea into a California bill to protect tenants involved in eviction lawsuits. While working with the Housing Program at the East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC), Hernandez assisted clients who suffered from what he calls “a big flaw in landlord-tenant law.”
While working with the Housing Program at the East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC), Hernandez assisted clients who suffered from what he calls “a big flaw in landlord-tenant law.” Under existing rules, a tenant must win an eviction suit within 60 days—or else the court records become public and end up on the tenant’s credit report.
Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton along with the East Bay Community Law Center and the Homeless Action Center announced that today they have settled the lawsuit against the City of Albany (the City) on behalf of Albany Housing Advocates and 28 homeless Albany residents who currently live on a closed landfill known as the Albany Bulb.
