I first caught wind of this appalling story on Saturday's KPFA evening news.
Later, I went online expecting to find stories in all the Bay area papers.
But to my astonishment, only one article has been written -- first appearing
on the Indymedia website, then in a better-edited form, the only real *print*
version turned up in the SF Bay View newspaper.
It's absolutely disgraceful that even the Oakland Tribune has completely
ignored this story. (Nothing on their website, at any rate.) Surely, letters
to the Trib's editors are called for, asking why they haven't covered this
outrageous action by the Oakland Housing Authority.
As noted below, the OHA is compounding the criminal acts of its own
employee by seeking to further punish the victims of her crimes. Which
strikes me as an issue that should also be brought to the attention of
all of the candidates in the current Oakland mayoral campaign.
I don't even LIVE in Oakland, and I'm outraged in the extreme!
Craig Gingold
(Contact info for the Housing Authority & tenant defense is at the end
of the article below.)
These were the editors listed on the contact info page
for the Oakland Tribune:
Mario Dianda - Editor
(510) 208-6432
mdianda@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Kathleen Kirkwood - City Editor
(510) 208-6423
kkirkwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Martin Reynolds - Asst. City Editor
(510) 208-6433
mreynolds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Letters To The Editor
triblet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
San Francisco Bay View -- and --
San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center
A nightmare at Hope VI project
Mass evictions from Oakland?s public housing
by Lynda Carson
Wednesday, Apr. 26, 2006
The Oakland Housing Authority is trying to sweep 29 families out of
Lockwood Gardens in a mass eviction.
Twenty-nine families are fighting to avoid a mass eviction by the
Oakland Housing Authority from their public housing units on 65th
Avenue at Lockwood Gardens, a Hope VI project.
The Oakland Housing Authority claims that the families are unlawful
occupants ? squatters ? who gained possession of their homes
illegally,
and the OHA has served them with 30-day forcible detainer eviction
notices in an effort to remove them.
On Friday, April 28, the first three cases are landing in Alameda
County
Superior Court. Oakland?s Eviction Defense Center has teamed up with
Bob Salinas of Sundeen & Salinas to file a demurer in their
defense.
Lockwood Gardens? 372 units are part of a revitalization project of
East Oakland?s public housing properties and a recipient of part of
the $26,510,020 in grant funding for the Hope VI program. The
revitalization funds were divided between three public housing
projects
in 1994 and 1996 and used to demolish and rebuild modern housing
units on the sites in Oakland?s neglected East Side neighborhoods.
Currently, out of the 29 families facing eviction, the Eviction
Defense
Center is representing nine in court. The East Bay Community Law
Center is representing 12 families, and those cases will head to
court
at a later date.
One family has already been frightened into moving away from their
public housing unit by the OHA, and that leaves a total of 21
families
out of 29 facing eviction who have legal representation. No one
seems
to know if the remaining seven families facing eviction have moved
away or are seeking legal representation elsewhere.
Jennifer Bell of Goldfarb and Lipman is the general counsel for the
Oakland Housing Authority and is leading the charge in court to
evict the
29 families.
During an April 24 interview with David Lipsetc, a senior policy
analyst
with the Oakland Housing Authority, Lipsetc blamed the tenants for
what is occurring and accused all 29 families of committing fraud to
move into their public housing units.
?The OHA has served eviction notices to 29 families at Lockwood
Gardens because none of the families applied for or got onto the
waiting
list to move into their public housing units,? says Lipsetc.
?The tenants worked with a former clerk to gain access to the
units, the
OHA does not have any files on the families, and the OHA does not
believe that any of the families signed a lease before moving into
those
units. Forcible detainers are standard procedure for those that have
illegally moved into the OHA?s public housing units,? Lipsetc said.
?We only recently discovered that the 29 families were illegally
living in
those units after we ran a check on the list of clients waiting to
move
into those units, compared to the names of the families actually
residing
in those units. And the client numbers on our waiting list did not
match
with the names of the families that actually moved into those
units.?
?As far as we can tell, there were no signed leases, no files
established
for these families, no security deposits have been paid before
moving in,
and those families got ahead of all the other families on the
waiting list to
move in,? said Lipsitc.
Contrary to what Mr. Lipsitc states, the facts reveal that the 29
families
all signed leases, Tenant Agreements to Maintain a Drug-Free
Environment, Occupant?s Responsibility statements, Lease Compliance
forms and a host of other documents before moving into their public
housing units, and the documents were all countersigned by a host of
clerks and managers working for the Oakland Housing Authority.
Billing
summaries, tenant leases and notices have officials? names on them,
such as Kim Boyd, an OHA supervisor, and Donald McShane and Alice
Ferguson, OHA managers.
?The police have been looking for Carolyn Wilson of the Oakland
Housing Authority ever since she disappeared recently,? said Ms.
Kelly.
Ms. Kelly, a resident of Lockwood Gardens, prefers to use only her
last
name for this story.
?I moved into Lockwood Gardens on Oct. 27, and Carolyn Wilson?s
name is on my lease,? said Kelly. ?I first received a message from
the
OHA at my mother?s home, telling me that a unit was available at
Lockwood Gardens, and I went to their office location on 65th Avenue
to fill out the necessary forms to move in.
?I supplied birth certificates, photo IDs, social security numbers,
income
statements and everything else asked of me to qualify for moving in.
There?s no way that I committed fraud by following through with
everything being asked of me by the Housing Authority.?
?I was terrified recently when the OHA Police showed up at my door
around 10 p.m. at night, accusing my family of committing fraud to
move into this townhouse, and they served me a five-day notice to
surrender my home to the OHA, or else,? said Kelly.
Officer Jerold Coates, a 13-year employee of the OHA Police
Department, is involved in the investigation taking place at
Lockwood
Gardens.
?What I am being told by others is that Carolyn Wilson of the OHA
skipped town with everyone?s security deposits of $500 to $1,000 for
each family involved in the scam and that the OHA will not receive a
subsidy from HUD for the families facing eviction in those units,
because the OHA believes that the wrong families are residing in
those
housing units,? Kelly said.
Jorge Aguilar of the Eviction Defense Center has his own
understanding
of what is going on. ?An agent of the Oakland Housing Authority
defrauded nearly 30 families of the most vulnerable segment of the
community. They are now trying to cover their wrongful act by
evicting
those families.?
?The OHA is trying to circumvent Measure EE. The irony is that the
OHA is using forcible detainers to evict, which have traditionally
been
used to defend tenants from landlords using self help evictions.
During
a recent interview with one of the families facing eviction, a
little boy
started crying and stated that ?the police came by and tried to
take my
bedroom away from me,?? said Jorge.
* * *
?My name is Winou Wakeyo. I?m from Jimma, Ethiopia, and I moved
into Lockwood Gardens on Nov. 22, 2005. I work 12 hours a day on
Sundays for a pastor who told me to come here to find housing, and
I did everything the Housing Authority asked of me before moving
in.
?A big policeman came by recently late at night with a five-day
notice
telling me that I must surrender my home to the Housing Authority.
There were two policemen. It scared me very much.
?And someone later told me to find a defender to save my housing,
and
I contacted the Eviction Defense Center for help,? said Wakeyo. ?I
do
not understand the customs of this country, and I asked my defender
what I did wrong, and I was told that someone stole some money.
?The Housing Authority stopped accepting my rent for April, and
about
two weeks ago, they suddenly sent back the rent that I paid for
March.
And I do not understand why they are doing this to me.?
After it became apparent that many families were seeking legal help
to
fight their evictions, it was on March 10 that a meeting was held
at the
East Bay Community Law Center for the victims of the housing scam.
About 20 people showed up for the meeting.
It was after everyone started sharing what had occurred to them
that it
became clear to most of the families involved that Carolyn Wilson
of the
Oakland Housing Authority had stolen their security deposits and
skipped out of town.
Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule@xxxxxxxxx
or (510) 763-1085.
Eviction Defense Center 510/452-4541
East Bay Community Law Center 510/548-4040
Sundeen Salinas & Pyle 510/663-9240
Jennifer Bell/Goldfarb & Lipman 510/836-6336
David Lipsetc OHA -- 510/874-1511
Joyce Roberson -- Head of OHA Public Housing
510/874-1520
Jon Gresly -- Director of OHA 510/874-1520
============================================
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