Oakland red tagged buildings displace 200 residents

Oakland red tagged buildings displace 200 residents

By Lynda Carson

Oakland - Around 200 residents from 40 to 50 families in two residential buildings near 25th Ave and Foothill BLVD were given less than a 24 hour eviction notice, and were told that they had to move by 5pm, on Tuesday August 25.

The City of Oakland red tagged and condemned their residential buildings on Tuesday for major code violations that were discovered after a fire occurred in one of the buildings on Monday August 24. The owner (slumlord) of the two residential buildings passed away, and the City is trying to determine who currently owns the property.

On behalf of the City of Oakland, the American Red Cross has set up a shelter at the Ira Jinkins Recreation Center to provide cots and food for the 194 residents, including 74 children that have been displaced and made homeless at the condemned properties.

According to a staff person from Councilman De La Fuente's office, whose district the displaced families reside in, "Last night an incredible effort by multi-agencies took place to assist the displaced families relocate to the Ira Jinkins Recreation Center that was set up as a shelter. It's mostly low-income Hispanic families that were placed into shelter, and currently we are trying to determine who actually legally resides at the condemned buildings and are looking at leases and other documentation to verify who the residents actually are. The City is currently trying to find funding to assist the displaced families, and temporary housing vouchers will be provided by the Community and Economic Development Agency (CEDA), so the families can move into motels. We're still trying to determine the true ownership of the condemned buildings, because the owner is deceased."

The Red Cross has a lengthy list of affordable housing sites in Alameda County owned by local non profit housing organizations such as the East Bay Housing Organizations (EBHO) to assist disaster victims find housing, but due to a low vacancy rate and high demand for low-income housing, it often takes months to move into the affordable housing sites because of the stringent demands for income verification, and lengthy back ground checks.

In some cases, when residents are displaced due to code violations in Oakland's residential buildings, the City may assist renters with two months worth of rental assistance to find new housing. However, the rental assistance is based on the amount of rent currently being payed, and it's usually very difficult for the displaced low-income renters to find cheap rents elsewhere.

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