Tenants Groups Protest Oakland Landlord's Federal PPP Loan

Tenants rights groups rallied outside the headquarters of an East Bay property management firm Friday to protest the company accepting as much as $1 million in federal loans.

A group of tenants organizations called the United Front argue many of the Lapham Company’s tenants are on the brink of eviction with no relief in sight.

"I'm a Lapham tenant," said one protester, Kalie Caetano, in a video taken outside Lapham's office.

"We were shocked when we found out Lapham received hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds to survive this pandemic. We believe we should be allowed to survive this pandemic, too. That relief needs to be passed on to renters. Cancel rent."

The United Front is a coalition of advocacy and union organizations, including Asian American Pacific Islanders for Civic Empowerment, the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, AFSCME, California Calls and others.

The United Front is warning there are two weeks left until California’s statewide eviction moratorium expires, and if no action is taken to help tenants, many will soon become homeless.

These tenant activists hope legislators will pass Assembly Bill 1436, authored by Assemblymember David Chiu, D-San Francisco, which would keep that eviction moratorium in place throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Lapham Company manages about 40 multifamily properties and single-family homes across Oakland and Berkeley.

Editor's note: This post has been corrected to reflect Kalie Caetano's proper name spelling. KQED is among the local businesses and media organizations that have received a PPP loan. This helps us continue to provide essential information and service to our audiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

— Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez (@FitztheReporter)