San Francisco: Affordable housing ruling a setback to cities, by Robert Selna, San Francisco Chronicle, January 8, 2010
Affordable Housing
San Francisco city officials are working to address a court decision giving developers a major victory in the battle over whether they must provide affordable housing in new projects.
Legislation could be introduced at the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday related to a ruling the California Supreme Court let stand in the fall. The ruling prohibits cities from forcing developers to rent a percentage of units in new apartment buildings at rates affordable to people earning below the median income.
East Palo Alto: Page Mill’s East Palo Alto buildings to hit the auction block Feb. 1, by Jessica Bernstein-Wax, San Jose Mercury News, January 6, 2010
East Palo Alto’s biggest landlord’s approximately 1,800 rental units are scheduled to hit the auction block Feb. 1, Wells Fargo Bank confirmed Wednesday.
Notices of sale were posted Wednesday at Palo Alto-based Page Mill Properties’ East Palo Alto buildings, stating there will be a public auction of the 101 properties, Wells Fargo spokeswoman Elise Wilkinson said.
“This is a procedural notice,” said Dave Wald, a court-appointed receiver who took over management of the portfolio in September after Page Mill missed a $50 million balloon payment to Wells Fargo. The loan went into default in September.
New York: Bronx tenants win case citing Stuy Town, by Amanda Fung, Crain’s New York Business Online, January 5, 2010
A dozen tenants at a troubled South Bronx building scored an initial victory last month in their case against their landlord Riverview Redevelopment Co., a subsidiary of Starrett Corp.
Riverview had been accused of illegally raising rents at the 383-unit, rent stabilized building located at 1600 Sedgwick Ave. and attempting to evict tenants for non-payment of the higher rents. In its ruling the New York State Supreme Court issued a preliminary injunction and ruled that Riverview must charge rent regulated rents.
The ruling cites the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village case as precedent. In that case the court ruled that landlord Tishman Speyer had illegally deregulated apartments and raised rents while receiving tax breaks and exemptions from the city. Riverview collected more than $150,000 in similar tax breaks from the city since 2000, according to court filings.
Nation: Dear Government: Renters would like a tax break too, by Anna Marie Hibble, SFGate, January 5, 2010
Once again, new homebuyers can enjoy an $8000 tax credit on their first home. Once again, renters can enjoy no such break. Is this the best way to stimulate our flagging real estate economy?
Maybe not. Let’s look at an argument from Ezra Klein of the Washington Post: “And what will boost me into that lush future? Well, the fact that I make a fair amount of money for someone my age. The fact that my grandparents put away a bit of money to help with my eventual down payment. The fact that my earning potential looks likely to rise, which reassures my bank. The government is in effect giving me a cash reward for being pretty well-off. That’s a rather dumb way to apportion resources. More to the point, it’s not necessary. The economics and emotional rewards of owning a house are compelling enough without the mortgage deduction. If you want to give low-income homebuyers additional help, that would make a lot of sense, particularly given the long-term importance of assets in bolstering financial security. But giving it to everyone who buys a home of any size is simply a regressive attack on renters.”
San Francisco: Judicial Bias Out of Control in SF Superior Court, by Dean Preston, BeyondChron, January 5, 2010
As 2009 drew to a close, the Appellate Panel at SF Superior Court quietly upheld the eviction of long-term San Francisco resident, Susan Suval. Without any explanation, the court rubber-stamped the erroneous trial court ruling that allowed a landlord to invoke the Ellis Act despite a written agreement with the City that he would do no such thing.
The case stands as the latest example of judicial bias against renters in San Francisco’s Superior Courts. Despite its progressive political climate, San Francisco continues to be one of the worst places in California when it comes to judicial bias against tenants.
East Palo Alto: Re’Anita Burns Looks Back on a Decade of Organizing in East Palo Alto, by Ruth Robertson, Bay Area IndyMedia, January 3, 2010
Re'Anita Burns
After Re’Anita Burns and other members of Youth United for Community Action helped shut down hazardous waste disposal company Romic Technologies, The Nation hailed their action as one of the top 10 youth activism victories of 2007. As 24-year-old Re’Anita enters a second decade of organizing in her community of color, she fights for tenants who need relief from illegal rent increases. She says she is not sure what changes the next ten years will bring to East Palo Alto, but she knows one thing for certain. She will never stop being a community organizer.
Growing up in East Palo Alto, 24-year-old Re’Anita Burns cannot remember a time when there was not a monster living her backyard. The monster was a hazardous waste disposal company, Romic Technologies, with billowing smokestacks that spewed foul-smelling chemicals into the low-income community of East Palo Alto.
New York: Rats and bedbugs take over where Dawnay, Day left off in Harlem, by Alexandra Frean: US Business Correspondent, TimesOnline, January 2, 2010
Dawnay, Day, the British property-to-financials conglomerate, had high hopes when it sank $225 million into 47 rental buildings, made up of 1,100 apartments, in the up-and-coming East Harlem neighborhood of New York in 2007. Its plan was to replace low-income residents in rent-stabilised apartments with affluent ones who would be charged higher rents as the area was gentrified.
But, less than three years later, those hopes are in ruins, as the properties face a foreclosure motion from lenders in the US and administrators in the UK try to unravel the complex financial deals that made the purchase possible.
Guy Naggar and Peter Klimt, the men behind Dawnay, Day and its incursion into New York property, have been able to walk away from their investment. But most of the tenants of the 1,100 apartments are still counting the cost.
