Redwood Gardens senior housing in Berkeley is being sold to Foundation Housing

Redwood Gardens senior housing in Berkeley is being sold to Foundation Housing

By Lynda Carson - August 25, 2020

The residents of Redwood Gardens senior housing in Berkeley were shocked yesterday when they received a notice posted on their doors on August 24, 2020, stating that the residential building they reside in is in the process of being sold to Foundation Housing, of North Bethesda, Maryland, a non profit housing developer.

During an interview earlier today with 73 year old Stefen, an artist who has resided at Redwood Gardens for 5 years, he stated, “We received the notice yesterday informing us that Redwood Gardens is in the process of being sold, and the completion of the sale of Redwood Gardens is expected to take place sometime this fall. We will have to sign new contracts when the building is sold. This was a big surprise to the tenants, and we did not know the building was up for sale until yesterday. The notice mentions the names of Todd Travis of Foundation Housing, and Andrew Agetstein of the Pennant Housing Group as being involved in the sale and takeover of Redwood Gardens. I suspect that the current owner of Redwood Gardens called CSI, was not pleased about owning Redwood Gardens in Berkeley, and Northern California, because CSI believed that the tenants were too radical for them, and would fight for their housing rights as tenants in the building. The Gray Panthers of Berkeley were instrumental in the creation and construction of Redwood Gardens years ago for seniors in Berkeley, and I hope that we will not be displaced by the new owner when they take over.”

Stefen is an artist and painter who specializes in murals, and some of his art work may be found by clicking here.

Eleanor Walden, a long time tenant of Redwood Gardens senior housing, and Board Member of the National Alliance of HUD Tenants (NAHT), stated, “We were shocked to receive notice yesterday that our building is being sold. We have been told that things will stay the same for the tenants, but we will have to sign new contracts. Things will remain the same? That remains to be seen, and we will know more about our fate in the near future. We did not have any advance notice that our building was up for sale, and it was a big surprise.”

Eleanor Walden and other residents at Redwood Gardens have gone face to face and toe to toe in battle with the management at Redwood Gardens in the past, and the tenants have had sit-ins at times in protest of management’s policies at Redwood Gardens.

Redwood Gardens, 169 units of subsidized affordable housing for seniors and the disabled, located at 2951 Derby St., Berkeley, is currently owned by Cooperative Services Inc. (CSI), and it’s affiliate CSI Derby Street Nonprofit Housing Corporation. It was built around 34 years years ago. Management at Redwood Gardens was not available when I wanted to get a quote from them about the process of Redwood Gardens being up for sale.

Foundation Housing Is In The Process Of Purchasing Redwood Gardens Senior Housing:

Foundation Housing, a 501(c)(3) non profit organization, is also known as the National Foundation For Affordable Housing Solutions INC., according to the latest 990 tax filing from 2018 for the organization.

Foundation Housing, EIN 52-1665967, had gross receipts of $19,640,053 in 2018, and after subtracting their assets from their liabilities, the organization had net assets or fund balances of $19,328,248.

In 2018, Jason Goldblatt is listed as the CEO/Chairman of the organization with a reportable compensation of $360,000 in 2018, with Todd Travis listed as the President and COO of the organization, raking in $300,000 in compensation in 2018. Janet Charlton was listed as the Vice President of the organization, and was compensated $264,000 in 2018.

Unfortunately for the older radical leftist tenants at Redwood Gardens in Berkeley, Jason Goldplatt is a staunch Republican, who resides in Bethesda, Maryland. Goldplatt made a $3,000 campaign contribution to the Maryland Republican State Central Committee during May of 2018.

Todd Travis who’s name is listed on yesterdays shocking notice to the tenants at Redwood Gardens, is also a staunch Republican who resides in Maryland, and made a $3,000 campaign contribution to the Maryland Republican State Central Committee during May of 2018.

The crazy Republicans and the loony tunes Trump regime have been trying to keep people from voting by sabotaging the Postal Service, and are falsely claiming that mail-in voting used by many elderly senior citizens will result in fraud without offering any evidence to back their paranoid false assertions.

Pennant Housing Group:

Pennant Housing Group is directly connected to Foundation Housing a.k.a. National Foundation For Affordable Housing Solutions INC., and before Richard Charlton formed the Pennant Housing Group (PHG), Charlton was a Senior Development manager for the National Foundation For Affordable Housing Solutions INC.

According to the website for the Pennant Housing Group, before joining the Pennant Housing Group, Andrew Agetstein used to be with the notorious landlord known as AIMCO from 2002 through 2012. The notorious AIMCO has been sued many times for screwing over it’s tenants in affordable housing projects throughout the nation.

The tenants at Redwood Gardens are concerned that their building is being sold. The new landlord (staunch Republicans), may want to displace the older tenants and the disabled to bring in higher income renters, or force them out by doing a major rehabilitation project at the building when they take over in the near future.

Redwood Gardens went through a major rehab project around 5 years ago that forced many tenants to put their possessions into storage while the construction work in their apartments was being done.

Lynda Carson may be reach at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com


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