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"content": "\u003cp>People’s Park is one of the most famous sites of the student movement of the 1960s — battled into existence, it has been held together by activists. The current debate is whether the university should be allowed to build student housing, or whether the park should remain completely open space, a sanctuary of sorts, for people in need of help. Issues of housing, homelessness, open space and more combine for a story with many elements of quintessential Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a long time, the university hadn’t done much with it. Volunteers had guarded the space and run programs for various groups. During the pandemic, the eastern edge of the park became a large encampment for unhoused people. In recent years, the university has tried to develop the parcel of land, after its first attempt was blocked in 1969 by protesters. Under the new plans, about 60% of the land would remain a park that the university says will honor the legacy of its creation.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Harvey Smith, member of People's Park Historic District Advocacy Group\"]‘The park should remain a park, but a well-maintained park. This debate goes beyond Berkeley. It goes beyond California. The park has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rest would be turned into a new development, with 1,100 housing units for students and another hundred units of supportive housing run through a local nonprofit. In the meantime, the unhoused residents of the park have been offered a roof over their heads at a converted motel. Earlier this month, the university tried to begin construction, but activists clashed with police as demolition of the trees began. Soon, construction was halted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most recently, a judge issued an injunction and the project has been paused, pending a new review.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101890205/the-battle-for-peoples-park\">KQED Forum host Alexis Madrigal spoke with\u003c/a>: Dan Mogulof, assistant vice chancellor of public affairs at UC Berkeley; Harvey Smith, member of People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group; and Supriya Yelimeli, housing and homelessness reporter for Berkeleyside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The following excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The origin and state of People’s Park\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Supriya Yelimeli, Berkeleyside:\u003c/strong> I was there Tuesday evening around 5 p.m., and some activists who run the People’s Park Garden were watering. There were about 10 tents there — people who are occupying the park. The People’s Park Kitchen, also run by activists, has used some of the fencing that was put around the park. There are some folks who are just hanging out there, but it still looks very different than before. There used to be groups of people who kind of just hung out in the area. Now, most of the folks who are at the park now are actively protesting for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922915\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922915\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57541_018_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Several people stand in the sun one has a sign that says: 'We Love People's Park'\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57541_018_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57541_018_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57541_018_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57541_018_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57541_018_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Demonstrators rally at People’s Park to protest the construction by UC Berkeley of student housing at the park on Aug. 3, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>An abridged story of the park\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Yelimeli: \u003c/strong>In the ’60s, alongside many other big rebellions and civil rights movements, people who lived in the city decided to take the park land and turn it into a public park. At the time, there were plans to turn it into a parking lot. But people walked into the park, they started digging and shoveling. And there was one very famous protest where around 6,000 people marched to the park when the UC tried to reclaim the land. And on that day, one person was shot and killed. That set in motion a lot of the activism and the real vigor for defending the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922963\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-72160036.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922963\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-72160036-800x543.jpg\" alt=\"A black and white photo of several people standing outside behind barbed wire.\" width=\"800\" height=\"543\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-72160036-800x543.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-72160036-1020x692.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-72160036-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-72160036.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Demonstrators place flowers on a barbed wire fence in People’s Park on the UC Berkeley campus, May 30, 1969. The demonstrators were part of a group of 30,000 Berkeley residents, of a total population of 100,000, who gathered and marched to protest the May 15 killing by police of an unarmed spectator at an earlier demonstration and the subsequent occupation of their city by the National Guard. \u003ccite>(David Fenton/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>The UC’s vision for People’s Park\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dan Mogulof, UC Berkeley:\u003c/strong> The vision really started five years ago. UC Berkeley is facing an urgent student housing crisis and an initiative was launched with relatively modest goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those goals were to provide every incoming freshman with two years of university housing. But to do that, we need 8,000 new beds. Twenty percent of our students don’t even live in the city of Berkeley. Ten percent of our students report being unhoused at any given time. We need to build on every single piece of university-owned property in close proximity to the campus — People’s Park is one of those sites.[aside postID=\"forum_2010101890205\" label=\"Related Post\"]We also understood how important the park site is to members of the Berkeley community — its past, its legacy. We understood there were unhoused people who had been sleeping and gathering there in the pandemic. Instead of blithely rushing ahead, we developed a plan that acknowledges and addresses all of those various interests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922966\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47370_036_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922966\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47370_036_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt='A sign outside that reads \"Peoples Park\" with tents outside.' width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47370_036_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47370_036_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47370_036_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47370_036_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47370_036_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign says ‘Save Peoples Park, No More Buildings’ at People’s Park in Berkeley on Feb. 19, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We’re ready to and want to commemorate the park’s past and legacy. And also make sure that we’re meeting the needs and interests of unhoused people who have been using the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not only was nearly $5 million spent to help them relocate to the Rodeway Inn, another million dollars is being spent by the city and the campus to open a new daytime gathering center at the First Presbyterian Church, where unhoused people can receive services and food and showers, medical care, counseling and the like.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A continuing struggle for student housing\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alexis Madrigal, KQED: Why doesn’t the UC Berkeley just accept fewer students?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mogulof\u003c/strong>: There are a number of fallacies and myths around that question. First of all, the UC campuses don’t decide their own enrollment levels. Enrollment is decided by the regents in concert with the office of the president. They’re facing pressure from throughout the state … to enroll more students. The size of the system hasn’t tracked with the growing population of the state of California. In recent years, we’ve been required to take more students than we had housing for, exacerbating a preexisting crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Harvey Smith, People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group:\u003c/strong> I’m highly disappointed with the devolution of the UC. When I was a student, there was zero tuition. Now I think students pay about $14,000 a year for tuition plus housing costs. [\u003ca href=\"https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?id=110635#expenses\">Editor’s note: The average in-state tuition is $14,000, and out-of-state tuition is $44,000.\u003c/a>]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our organization is totally in favor of more student housing. I applaud the plan to provide more student housing. We’re critical of the delivery of the plan. It’s been reported that up to 10% of Berkeley students at Cal have been homeless — and it’s an urgent problem, but our feeling is that it should be addressed in an appropriate way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The park should remain a park, but a well-maintained park. This debate goes beyond Berkeley. It goes beyond California. The park has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Wouldn’t it be easier to build in another part of the UC land holdings?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922916\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922916\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Cut trees on top of one another\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tree branches lay cut on the ground after UC Berkeley student housing construction began at People’s Park in Berkeley on Aug. 3, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>What do the people of People’s Park want?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Yelimeli:\u003c/strong> I wanted to make clear that there are different groups asking for different things at the park. Defend People’s Park, which is mostly a student-run organization, wants People’s Park returned to Indigenous stewardship. They want no development at People’s Park, and they want folks who previously lived there or who got resources at the park to get permanent housing. They also want UC police defunded and for those funds to be redirected to students and staff who need services, as well as people who lived at the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ve been talking about opposition and support … At the protests, we’ve heard from Moms for Housing, who famously reclaimed a home in Oakland and were able to live there. We have heard alignment from folks at the Wood Street encampment, Oakland. We’ve heard alignment from, you know, groups in San Francisco and in Los Angeles, other people who have been fighting for homeless rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922964\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47341_006_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922964\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47341_006_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two people wearing masks and jacket hold a plastic bag and vegetables outside near tents in a park.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47341_006_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47341_006_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47341_006_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47341_006_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47341_006_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Romeo Channer (left) and Alecia Harger look through a bag donated at People’s Park in Berkeley on Feb. 19, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We do have to be respectful of homeless voices who are not represented saying that [People’s Park] is where [they get their] resources — “if I don’t have a phone or my friend doesn’t have a phone, I can go here and hear from someone who will know their whereabouts.” And these are very distinct issues from the student housing crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a lack of hearing the voices of these folks at all because they’re hard to reach. You can’t always get them on the radio or in the newspaper or in a university press release. There are people who certainly acknowledge that living outside in the cold is not what they want.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are people who are grateful for this opportunity. And then there are folks who are more comfortable living on the streets as well because of past traumas and past terrible experiences with the institutions that surround them. I don’t want to speak for them, those voices should be heard. But it’s not binary. It never is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mogulof:\u003c/strong> I just want to note that all of the plans that were developed in concert with the city were based on what unhoused people told us. We went out of our way to ensure their voices were heard. We had graduate students for the School of Public Policy who were in the park every day asking people about what the services and support they need and want.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We are, to the best of our knowledge, the only university that hired a social worker to provide care and services to connect people with services. We could not agree more that those are voices that should be heard, that have been heard in the past and need to continue to be heard going forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "What's next for People's Park, and what's at stake? KQED Forum featured a discussion of the multiple layers of housing, homelessness and public space.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>People’s Park is one of the most famous sites of the student movement of the 1960s — battled into existence, it has been held together by activists. The current debate is whether the university should be allowed to build student housing, or whether the park should remain completely open space, a sanctuary of sorts, for people in need of help. Issues of housing, homelessness, open space and more combine for a story with many elements of quintessential Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a long time, the university hadn’t done much with it. Volunteers had guarded the space and run programs for various groups. During the pandemic, the eastern edge of the park became a large encampment for unhoused people. In recent years, the university has tried to develop the parcel of land, after its first attempt was blocked in 1969 by protesters. Under the new plans, about 60% of the land would remain a park that the university says will honor the legacy of its creation.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘The park should remain a park, but a well-maintained park. This debate goes beyond Berkeley. It goes beyond California. The park has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rest would be turned into a new development, with 1,100 housing units for students and another hundred units of supportive housing run through a local nonprofit. In the meantime, the unhoused residents of the park have been offered a roof over their heads at a converted motel. Earlier this month, the university tried to begin construction, but activists clashed with police as demolition of the trees began. Soon, construction was halted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most recently, a judge issued an injunction and the project has been paused, pending a new review.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101890205/the-battle-for-peoples-park\">KQED Forum host Alexis Madrigal spoke with\u003c/a>: Dan Mogulof, assistant vice chancellor of public affairs at UC Berkeley; Harvey Smith, member of People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group; and Supriya Yelimeli, housing and homelessness reporter for Berkeleyside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The following excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The origin and state of People’s Park\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Supriya Yelimeli, Berkeleyside:\u003c/strong> I was there Tuesday evening around 5 p.m., and some activists who run the People’s Park Garden were watering. There were about 10 tents there — people who are occupying the park. The People’s Park Kitchen, also run by activists, has used some of the fencing that was put around the park. There are some folks who are just hanging out there, but it still looks very different than before. There used to be groups of people who kind of just hung out in the area. Now, most of the folks who are at the park now are actively protesting for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922915\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922915\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57541_018_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Several people stand in the sun one has a sign that says: 'We Love People's Park'\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57541_018_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57541_018_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57541_018_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57541_018_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57541_018_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Demonstrators rally at People’s Park to protest the construction by UC Berkeley of student housing at the park on Aug. 3, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>An abridged story of the park\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Yelimeli: \u003c/strong>In the ’60s, alongside many other big rebellions and civil rights movements, people who lived in the city decided to take the park land and turn it into a public park. At the time, there were plans to turn it into a parking lot. But people walked into the park, they started digging and shoveling. And there was one very famous protest where around 6,000 people marched to the park when the UC tried to reclaim the land. And on that day, one person was shot and killed. That set in motion a lot of the activism and the real vigor for defending the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922963\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-72160036.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922963\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-72160036-800x543.jpg\" alt=\"A black and white photo of several people standing outside behind barbed wire.\" width=\"800\" height=\"543\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-72160036-800x543.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-72160036-1020x692.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-72160036-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-72160036.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Demonstrators place flowers on a barbed wire fence in People’s Park on the UC Berkeley campus, May 30, 1969. The demonstrators were part of a group of 30,000 Berkeley residents, of a total population of 100,000, who gathered and marched to protest the May 15 killing by police of an unarmed spectator at an earlier demonstration and the subsequent occupation of their city by the National Guard. \u003ccite>(David Fenton/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>The UC’s vision for People’s Park\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dan Mogulof, UC Berkeley:\u003c/strong> The vision really started five years ago. UC Berkeley is facing an urgent student housing crisis and an initiative was launched with relatively modest goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those goals were to provide every incoming freshman with two years of university housing. But to do that, we need 8,000 new beds. Twenty percent of our students don’t even live in the city of Berkeley. Ten percent of our students report being unhoused at any given time. We need to build on every single piece of university-owned property in close proximity to the campus — People’s Park is one of those sites.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>We also understood how important the park site is to members of the Berkeley community — its past, its legacy. We understood there were unhoused people who had been sleeping and gathering there in the pandemic. Instead of blithely rushing ahead, we developed a plan that acknowledges and addresses all of those various interests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922966\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47370_036_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922966\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47370_036_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt='A sign outside that reads \"Peoples Park\" with tents outside.' width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47370_036_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47370_036_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47370_036_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47370_036_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47370_036_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign says ‘Save Peoples Park, No More Buildings’ at People’s Park in Berkeley on Feb. 19, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We’re ready to and want to commemorate the park’s past and legacy. And also make sure that we’re meeting the needs and interests of unhoused people who have been using the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not only was nearly $5 million spent to help them relocate to the Rodeway Inn, another million dollars is being spent by the city and the campus to open a new daytime gathering center at the First Presbyterian Church, where unhoused people can receive services and food and showers, medical care, counseling and the like.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A continuing struggle for student housing\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alexis Madrigal, KQED: Why doesn’t the UC Berkeley just accept fewer students?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mogulof\u003c/strong>: There are a number of fallacies and myths around that question. First of all, the UC campuses don’t decide their own enrollment levels. Enrollment is decided by the regents in concert with the office of the president. They’re facing pressure from throughout the state … to enroll more students. The size of the system hasn’t tracked with the growing population of the state of California. In recent years, we’ve been required to take more students than we had housing for, exacerbating a preexisting crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Harvey Smith, People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group:\u003c/strong> I’m highly disappointed with the devolution of the UC. When I was a student, there was zero tuition. Now I think students pay about $14,000 a year for tuition plus housing costs. [\u003ca href=\"https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?id=110635#expenses\">Editor’s note: The average in-state tuition is $14,000, and out-of-state tuition is $44,000.\u003c/a>]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our organization is totally in favor of more student housing. I applaud the plan to provide more student housing. We’re critical of the delivery of the plan. It’s been reported that up to 10% of Berkeley students at Cal have been homeless — and it’s an urgent problem, but our feeling is that it should be addressed in an appropriate way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The park should remain a park, but a well-maintained park. This debate goes beyond Berkeley. It goes beyond California. The park has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Wouldn’t it be easier to build in another part of the UC land holdings?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922916\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922916\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Cut trees on top of one another\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tree branches lay cut on the ground after UC Berkeley student housing construction began at People’s Park in Berkeley on Aug. 3, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>What do the people of People’s Park want?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Yelimeli:\u003c/strong> I wanted to make clear that there are different groups asking for different things at the park. Defend People’s Park, which is mostly a student-run organization, wants People’s Park returned to Indigenous stewardship. They want no development at People’s Park, and they want folks who previously lived there or who got resources at the park to get permanent housing. They also want UC police defunded and for those funds to be redirected to students and staff who need services, as well as people who lived at the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ve been talking about opposition and support … At the protests, we’ve heard from Moms for Housing, who famously reclaimed a home in Oakland and were able to live there. We have heard alignment from folks at the Wood Street encampment, Oakland. We’ve heard alignment from, you know, groups in San Francisco and in Los Angeles, other people who have been fighting for homeless rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922964\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47341_006_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922964\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47341_006_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two people wearing masks and jacket hold a plastic bag and vegetables outside near tents in a park.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47341_006_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47341_006_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47341_006_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47341_006_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS47341_006_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Romeo Channer (left) and Alecia Harger look through a bag donated at People’s Park in Berkeley on Feb. 19, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We do have to be respectful of homeless voices who are not represented saying that [People’s Park] is where [they get their] resources — “if I don’t have a phone or my friend doesn’t have a phone, I can go here and hear from someone who will know their whereabouts.” And these are very distinct issues from the student housing crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a lack of hearing the voices of these folks at all because they’re hard to reach. You can’t always get them on the radio or in the newspaper or in a university press release. There are people who certainly acknowledge that living outside in the cold is not what they want.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are people who are grateful for this opportunity. And then there are folks who are more comfortable living on the streets as well because of past traumas and past terrible experiences with the institutions that surround them. I don’t want to speak for them, those voices should be heard. But it’s not binary. It never is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mogulof:\u003c/strong> I just want to note that all of the plans that were developed in concert with the city were based on what unhoused people told us. We went out of our way to ensure their voices were heard. We had graduate students for the School of Public Policy who were in the park every day asking people about what the services and support they need and want.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We are, to the best of our knowledge, the only university that hired a social worker to provide care and services to connect people with services. We could not agree more that those are voices that should be heard, that have been heard in the past and need to continue to be heard going forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "california-churches-want-to-build-affordable-housing-on-their-land-so-why-is-it-so-hard",
"title": "California Churches Want to Build Affordable Housing on Their Land, So Why Is It So Hard?",
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"headTitle": "California Churches Want to Build Affordable Housing on Their Land, So Why Is It So Hard? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Back in 2021, Ira Hudson was looking for a new apartment in Berkeley, but couldn’t find anything she could afford. For the past nine years, she had been living in downtown Oakland. But when her building’s management changed last year, Hudson started noticing infestations of bugs in the halls and in her apartment. She started to feel unsafe around new neighbors who were loud and behaved erratically. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Before, they used to screen the people they let in, but [then] they started to let any and everybody come in here,” she said. “The place was just [falling apart] and I couldn’t stand the bugs” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hudson, 71, is a lifelong resident of Alameda County. All of her family lives nearby. On most weekdays, she drives to Alameda to take care of her sister who recently suffered a stroke. On the weekends, she visits her daughter and grandchildren who live in Berkeley. One of her brothers lives a few blocks away while the other is in a convalescent home in Martinez. She couldn’t imagine moving away from all of that.\u003c/span>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Rev. Phil Brochard, All Souls Episcopal Parish\"]‘We wanted to be part of strengthening the community in a different way and one that was going to provide space for people who are most vulnerable.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hudson was limited by her budget, too. In her retirement, she relies on her Social Security benefits to pay the bills. She looked into getting an apartment in the same complex as her sister in Alameda, but the waitlist was too long. As her search dragged on for months, Hudson heard about Jordan Court, a housing complex for seniors with low incomes built by All Souls Episcopal Parish in Berkeley. She applied for a spot, but wasn’t hopeful she’d get in. The church had received more than 850 applications to fill a mere 34 studio units. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Then out of the blue, I get a call,” Hudson said. “They said, ‘You got the apartment here.’ I said, ‘You gotta be kidding me.’ That is nothing but a blessing.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hudson moved into Jordan Court in early March, along with 33 other seniors with low incomes. The apartment sits between North Oakland and South Berkeley, just a block away from a busy thoroughfare with lots of small restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores. Hudson’s new apartment has a big kitchen, big closets and a walk-in shower with a seat inside. She can park her car safely in the parking lot. And when she doesn’t want to drive, she can walk or take the bus to wherever she needs to be.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922803\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57015_009_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922803\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57015_009_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A common area with TVs and a meeting room.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57015_009_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57015_009_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57015_009_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57015_009_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57015_009_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jordan Court, located next door to All Souls Episcopal Parish, offers many amenities for their residents, including game and movie nights along with a community garden filled with fresh fruits and vegetables. This photo was taken on June 28, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I just love the place. It’s just a really nice community,” she said. “And people are out to help you. If you have any problems, you let them know and it’s taken care of.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How Jordan Court succeeded when many others couldn’t\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As California’s housing crisis becomes more dire and cities feel mounting pressure to build more housing, many are eyeing church-owned real estate as a potential solution. \u003c/span>[aside postID=\"news_11922337,forum_2010101889665,news_11914765\" label=\"Related Posts\"]\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Churches are one of the largest landowners in the country. The Catholic Church is\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://archive.curbed.com/2017/10/18/16483194/catholic-church-gis-goodlands-esri-molly-burhans\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> one of the largest private landowners\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the world. According to a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Mapping_the_Potential_and_Identifying_the_Barriers_to_Faith-Based_Housing_Development_May_2020.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">2020 study\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation, California faith institutions collectively own about 38,800 acres of undeveloped land. Almost half of that land is located in “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://localhousingsolutions.org/housing-issues/affordable-housing-in-opportunity-areas-or-resource-rich-neighborhoods/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">resource rich\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">” areas, where there is better access to schools, public transportation, grocery stores and economic opportunities. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The movement to take advantage of that land is known as YIGBY — Yes in God’s Backyard. But it’s not been easy. Affordable housing is notoriously difficult to build in California, and without deep pockets or the experience of developers, many churches have tried and failed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922802\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57013_004_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922802\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57013_004_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A building.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57013_004_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57013_004_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57013_004_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57013_004_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57013_004_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The apartment building is in a ‘resource rich’ neighborhood with many grocery stores, transit stops, small businesses and restaurants just a few blocks away. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jordan Court is one of the few church-led affordable housing developments successfully built in the Bay Area. The process started in 2014, when Rev. Phil Brochard and the All Souls Episcopal congregation were trying to decide what to do with an apartment building the church owned next door. The parish had used it as a makeshift office space, but it was becoming decrepit and underused. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“At the same time, we had members of our congregation who were themselves starting to feel the housing crunch that was happening,” said Brochard. “We wanted to be part of strengthening the community in a different way and one that was going to provide space for people who are most vulnerable.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The church decided on an affordable housing development specifically for seniors with low incomes, to help serve the city’s aging population. They also figured senior housing would be a pretty easy sell to neighbors. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922804\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57020_015_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922804\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57020_015_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing glasses and a black shirt sits outside with his hand resting on a table.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57020_015_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57020_015_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57020_015_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57020_015_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57020_015_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rev. Phil Brochard had been wanting to transform the underused and decrepit apartment the church owned into something useful for the community. In 2014, the congregation decided to turn the building into affordable housing, desperately needed in the increasingly expensive city. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But the project’s road to completion was a long and tiresome one with all the usual speed bumps that face affordable housing developments: high construction costs, bureaucracy and neighbors saying “not in my backyard.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“For some, they didn’t want to see a bigger structure here — we added a story to the building that was previously here,” Brochard said. “For some, it was just that they didn’t want poor people living in ‘their neighborhood’ and they felt like they or their families would be at more risk.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One neighbor appealed the project, causing All Souls to miss out on an opportunity for millions of dollars in funding.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But All Souls had their advantages, too. The project got some help from the state Legislature, with a new state law designed to spur housing construction. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB35\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">SB 35\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was passed in 2017, and streamlines project approvals in cities that have failed to build enough housing to meet state-mandated requirements. If a project meets certain criteria and contains fewer than 150 units, local governments must greenlight them within 60 days. Jordan Court contained 34 units and met all the criteria.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Another thing going for All Souls: its size and financial stability. The church has many affluent congregants who volunteered their skills toward developing Jordan Court, including an architect who assisted in the design process and an attorney who helped sort through the legal red tape. The church could also afford to build affordable rather than market-rate housing, which would have earned a profit. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We’re also in a position where we didn’t need the income stream for us to be able to survive,” Brochard said. “We’ve been a pretty stable congregation over the last 15 years or so. We felt we had enough stability that we could make this choice.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why aren’t there more Jordan Courts?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All Souls built Jordan Court in partnership with Satellite Affordable Housing Associates. Though SAHA has helped house 4,000 residents across the Bay Area, this is the first project it has completed on church property. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We’ve had other glimpses and potential projects with congregations, but this is really the first successful one we’ve done,” said SAHA CEO Susan Friedland.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922805\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57022_016_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922805\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57022_016_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing glasses and a blue shirt stand in the middle of a garden.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57022_016_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57022_016_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57022_016_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57022_016_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57022_016_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Susan Friedland, CEO of Satellite Affordable Housing Associates, has talked with many churches who were interested in building affordable housing on their property. Jordan Court is the first project they have completed in partnership with a church. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Friedland has talked with parishes who wanted to build affordable housing for their congregants, but backed out after realizing there’s no guarantee that the finished projects would have room for them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Under fair housing laws, affordable housing projects must be open to anyone who qualifies.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Because we take government money we can’t lease the building only to a certain group of people — we have to open it up widely. That’s often a game changer for a congregation,” said Friedland. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Another misconception is how financially lucrative an affordable housing project could be. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Some organizations see they have surplus land and they want to monetize it,” said Friedland. “But building affordable housing isn’t always a great way to maximize profit. It’s not a moneymaker.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Developing affordable housing takes a lot of time and resources, which can be daunting for new developers like churches. Since 2020, state Sen. Scott Wiener has been working on legislation that would make the approval process easier specifically for churches that want to develop affordable housing, but it has failed both times he has introduced it. Wiener plans to introduce a similar bill in December. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Making affordable housing work for more churches\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922936\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/IMG_1408-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922936\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/IMG_1408-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a brown jacket and light jeans stands outside a building by a fence.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/IMG_1408-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/IMG_1408-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/IMG_1408-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/IMG_1408-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/IMG_1408-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/IMG_1408-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pastor L.J. Jennings, outside the Blessings of Faith church in Hayward. \u003ccite>(Adhiti Bandlamudi/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pastor L.J. Jennings leads the Kingdom Builders Christian Fellowship in Oakland. Born and raised in the East Bay, Jennings has seen his neighbors and family members get pushed out of the area by the rising cost of living.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We talk about gentrification, but my word is ‘displacement,’” Jennings said. “When I look at who is being pushed out, it’s minority folks, it’s people of color. It’s changing the demographics of our city, of our communities.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Before becoming a pastor, Jennings worked in residential and commercial real estate and decided to put his experience and skills to use. In 2010, a year after opening the Kingdom Builders Christian Fellowship, he built a sober-living facility on land the church owned. Seven years later, he opened a hundred-bed home for formerly incarcerated individuals looking to reenter society. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“All of [the tenants in our facilities] are classified as homeless,” said Jennings. “We knew right away early on that we needed to address the homelessness crisis, so that’s what we’ve been doing.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After learning the ins and outs of building subsidized housing, Jennings wanted to help other churches do the same. In 2019, he started the Kingdom Builders Project, a nonprofit with two goals: to help churches build affordable housing and to make the projects as financially sound as possible to help struggling churches stay afloat. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Kingdom Builders Project has been working with churches across the East Bay on housing projects: four in Oakland and one in Hayward. All the churches are Black churches. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We know in the Black community that Blacks are being displaced in record numbers,” Jennings said. “So as a community, we’re really trying to stem the tide of Black displacement. We’re fighting for our survival.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While building housing may align with a church’s mission to serve its community, it’s not always cost-effective. According to Jennings, this is because faith institutions aren’t familiar with the financing of housing developments and therefore don’t know how to negotiate with savvy housing developers. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We have these situations where nonprofit housing developers are getting land from the church and the church doesn’t benefit from it other than their name on the building,” Jennings said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For example, many affordable housing developers make money through a “developer fee,” a sum of money included in the total housing development costs. Jennings argues housing developers should share that fee with churches, especially if the church is involved in that development process and owns the highly valuable land. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are other ways to access revenue streams, Jennings says, if only churches knew how to tap into them. Traditionally, an affordable housing developer would manage the apartment property or contract it out, but if church members learned how to manage the property, they could keep that revenue. Jennings envisions the church providing other services, too. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Whether it’s computer assistance, whether it’s after-school care, whatever it is — it’s for the community and the residents,” he said. “We would help them develop their services that are going to be housed inside the development so that they can create additional revenue.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jennings also wants to increase the odds that churches can house their own members who are at risk of displacement. Getting a unit in an affordable housing project usually happens by lottery, to make it a fair process. Jennings says that in the time it takes to build the housing, churches can work with their members to help them qualify. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We’re working with them on their credit, we’re working with them on their budgeting, making sure there’s job stability,” Jennings said. “We’re working with them on all the areas so that when the application opens, our people are ready to apply.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The four housing projects in Oakland are in the early stages and haven’t started construction yet, but Jennings says they look promising. The project in Hayward, however, is running into roadblocks from the church’s neighbors and confusing county regulations. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Blessings of Faith church, located a few blocks away from downtown Hayward, wants to build a 42-unit complex for seniors with low incomes in a small parking lot behind the church. Pastor Tally Knott grew up in Hayward, attended the church and witnessed the displacement of seniors and others in her community. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I was always around seniors, so my care for older people came about by just being around them,” said Knott. “This is my home, these are my people. I understand the community here and the needs of the people.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since starting the development process, Knott says the church has gotten pushback from neighbors who fear the apartment building will be too large for the area. Others in surrounding homes fear it will bring crime and disorder to their quiet community. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We live in a community where people are comfortable and don’t want change, but everyone’s going to become older one day,” said Knott. “I was even thinking about putting up signs that say ‘Seniors Matter.’” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite the setbacks, Knott and Jennings are resolute in their goal to build affordable housing in their communities. There’s no guarantee that these projects will work out exactly as envisioned, but it makes sense that faith organizations like the Kingdom Builders Project are giving it a try. Churches and other faith institutions have provided shelter to their communities for centuries.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“With the affordable housing crisis, there are no silver bullets,” said Tia Hicks, program officer at the Bay Area chapter of the nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). “This is just one opportunity to really get at our regional affordable housing crisis.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since 2019, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.lisc.org/bay-area/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">LISC Bay Area\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> has worked with 20 churches in the East Bay that wanted to develop housing on their property. One church is set to start construction on their property by the end of this year while others are selecting development partners and getting started on the approval process. Hicks says faith institutions are some of the best organizations to get involved in housing because they are usually entrenched in the communities they serve and understand the specific needs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It enables communities to retain ownership over what gets built,” she said. “Especially if we’re prioritizing racial equity in our work, in supporting Black congregations, there’s a lot of powerful synergy there.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The need for affordable housing is at an all-time high, and churches have the land to build it– they’re one of the largest landowners in the state. So why do churches have a hard time actually building it? ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Back in 2021, Ira Hudson was looking for a new apartment in Berkeley, but couldn’t find anything she could afford. For the past nine years, she had been living in downtown Oakland. But when her building’s management changed last year, Hudson started noticing infestations of bugs in the halls and in her apartment. She started to feel unsafe around new neighbors who were loud and behaved erratically. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Before, they used to screen the people they let in, but [then] they started to let any and everybody come in here,” she said. “The place was just [falling apart] and I couldn’t stand the bugs” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hudson, 71, is a lifelong resident of Alameda County. All of her family lives nearby. On most weekdays, she drives to Alameda to take care of her sister who recently suffered a stroke. On the weekends, she visits her daughter and grandchildren who live in Berkeley. One of her brothers lives a few blocks away while the other is in a convalescent home in Martinez. She couldn’t imagine moving away from all of that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘We wanted to be part of strengthening the community in a different way and one that was going to provide space for people who are most vulnerable.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hudson was limited by her budget, too. In her retirement, she relies on her Social Security benefits to pay the bills. She looked into getting an apartment in the same complex as her sister in Alameda, but the waitlist was too long. As her search dragged on for months, Hudson heard about Jordan Court, a housing complex for seniors with low incomes built by All Souls Episcopal Parish in Berkeley. She applied for a spot, but wasn’t hopeful she’d get in. The church had received more than 850 applications to fill a mere 34 studio units. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Then out of the blue, I get a call,” Hudson said. “They said, ‘You got the apartment here.’ I said, ‘You gotta be kidding me.’ That is nothing but a blessing.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hudson moved into Jordan Court in early March, along with 33 other seniors with low incomes. The apartment sits between North Oakland and South Berkeley, just a block away from a busy thoroughfare with lots of small restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores. Hudson’s new apartment has a big kitchen, big closets and a walk-in shower with a seat inside. She can park her car safely in the parking lot. And when she doesn’t want to drive, she can walk or take the bus to wherever she needs to be.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922803\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57015_009_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922803\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57015_009_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A common area with TVs and a meeting room.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57015_009_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57015_009_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57015_009_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57015_009_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57015_009_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jordan Court, located next door to All Souls Episcopal Parish, offers many amenities for their residents, including game and movie nights along with a community garden filled with fresh fruits and vegetables. This photo was taken on June 28, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I just love the place. It’s just a really nice community,” she said. “And people are out to help you. If you have any problems, you let them know and it’s taken care of.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How Jordan Court succeeded when many others couldn’t\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As California’s housing crisis becomes more dire and cities feel mounting pressure to build more housing, many are eyeing church-owned real estate as a potential solution. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Churches are one of the largest landowners in the country. The Catholic Church is\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://archive.curbed.com/2017/10/18/16483194/catholic-church-gis-goodlands-esri-molly-burhans\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> one of the largest private landowners\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the world. According to a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Mapping_the_Potential_and_Identifying_the_Barriers_to_Faith-Based_Housing_Development_May_2020.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">2020 study\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation, California faith institutions collectively own about 38,800 acres of undeveloped land. Almost half of that land is located in “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://localhousingsolutions.org/housing-issues/affordable-housing-in-opportunity-areas-or-resource-rich-neighborhoods/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">resource rich\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">” areas, where there is better access to schools, public transportation, grocery stores and economic opportunities. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The movement to take advantage of that land is known as YIGBY — Yes in God’s Backyard. But it’s not been easy. Affordable housing is notoriously difficult to build in California, and without deep pockets or the experience of developers, many churches have tried and failed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922802\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57013_004_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922802\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57013_004_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A building.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57013_004_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57013_004_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57013_004_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57013_004_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57013_004_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The apartment building is in a ‘resource rich’ neighborhood with many grocery stores, transit stops, small businesses and restaurants just a few blocks away. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jordan Court is one of the few church-led affordable housing developments successfully built in the Bay Area. The process started in 2014, when Rev. Phil Brochard and the All Souls Episcopal congregation were trying to decide what to do with an apartment building the church owned next door. The parish had used it as a makeshift office space, but it was becoming decrepit and underused. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“At the same time, we had members of our congregation who were themselves starting to feel the housing crunch that was happening,” said Brochard. “We wanted to be part of strengthening the community in a different way and one that was going to provide space for people who are most vulnerable.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The church decided on an affordable housing development specifically for seniors with low incomes, to help serve the city’s aging population. They also figured senior housing would be a pretty easy sell to neighbors. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922804\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57020_015_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922804\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57020_015_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing glasses and a black shirt sits outside with his hand resting on a table.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57020_015_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57020_015_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57020_015_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57020_015_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57020_015_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rev. Phil Brochard had been wanting to transform the underused and decrepit apartment the church owned into something useful for the community. In 2014, the congregation decided to turn the building into affordable housing, desperately needed in the increasingly expensive city. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But the project’s road to completion was a long and tiresome one with all the usual speed bumps that face affordable housing developments: high construction costs, bureaucracy and neighbors saying “not in my backyard.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“For some, they didn’t want to see a bigger structure here — we added a story to the building that was previously here,” Brochard said. “For some, it was just that they didn’t want poor people living in ‘their neighborhood’ and they felt like they or their families would be at more risk.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One neighbor appealed the project, causing All Souls to miss out on an opportunity for millions of dollars in funding.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But All Souls had their advantages, too. The project got some help from the state Legislature, with a new state law designed to spur housing construction. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB35\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">SB 35\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was passed in 2017, and streamlines project approvals in cities that have failed to build enough housing to meet state-mandated requirements. If a project meets certain criteria and contains fewer than 150 units, local governments must greenlight them within 60 days. Jordan Court contained 34 units and met all the criteria.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Another thing going for All Souls: its size and financial stability. The church has many affluent congregants who volunteered their skills toward developing Jordan Court, including an architect who assisted in the design process and an attorney who helped sort through the legal red tape. The church could also afford to build affordable rather than market-rate housing, which would have earned a profit. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We’re also in a position where we didn’t need the income stream for us to be able to survive,” Brochard said. “We’ve been a pretty stable congregation over the last 15 years or so. We felt we had enough stability that we could make this choice.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why aren’t there more Jordan Courts?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All Souls built Jordan Court in partnership with Satellite Affordable Housing Associates. Though SAHA has helped house 4,000 residents across the Bay Area, this is the first project it has completed on church property. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We’ve had other glimpses and potential projects with congregations, but this is really the first successful one we’ve done,” said SAHA CEO Susan Friedland.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922805\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57022_016_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922805\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57022_016_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing glasses and a blue shirt stand in the middle of a garden.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57022_016_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57022_016_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57022_016_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57022_016_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57022_016_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Susan Friedland, CEO of Satellite Affordable Housing Associates, has talked with many churches who were interested in building affordable housing on their property. Jordan Court is the first project they have completed in partnership with a church. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Friedland has talked with parishes who wanted to build affordable housing for their congregants, but backed out after realizing there’s no guarantee that the finished projects would have room for them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Under fair housing laws, affordable housing projects must be open to anyone who qualifies.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Because we take government money we can’t lease the building only to a certain group of people — we have to open it up widely. That’s often a game changer for a congregation,” said Friedland. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Another misconception is how financially lucrative an affordable housing project could be. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Some organizations see they have surplus land and they want to monetize it,” said Friedland. “But building affordable housing isn’t always a great way to maximize profit. It’s not a moneymaker.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Developing affordable housing takes a lot of time and resources, which can be daunting for new developers like churches. Since 2020, state Sen. Scott Wiener has been working on legislation that would make the approval process easier specifically for churches that want to develop affordable housing, but it has failed both times he has introduced it. Wiener plans to introduce a similar bill in December. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Making affordable housing work for more churches\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922936\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/IMG_1408-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11922936\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/IMG_1408-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a brown jacket and light jeans stands outside a building by a fence.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/IMG_1408-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/IMG_1408-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/IMG_1408-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/IMG_1408-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/IMG_1408-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/IMG_1408-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pastor L.J. Jennings, outside the Blessings of Faith church in Hayward. \u003ccite>(Adhiti Bandlamudi/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pastor L.J. Jennings leads the Kingdom Builders Christian Fellowship in Oakland. Born and raised in the East Bay, Jennings has seen his neighbors and family members get pushed out of the area by the rising cost of living.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We talk about gentrification, but my word is ‘displacement,’” Jennings said. “When I look at who is being pushed out, it’s minority folks, it’s people of color. It’s changing the demographics of our city, of our communities.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Before becoming a pastor, Jennings worked in residential and commercial real estate and decided to put his experience and skills to use. In 2010, a year after opening the Kingdom Builders Christian Fellowship, he built a sober-living facility on land the church owned. Seven years later, he opened a hundred-bed home for formerly incarcerated individuals looking to reenter society. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“All of [the tenants in our facilities] are classified as homeless,” said Jennings. “We knew right away early on that we needed to address the homelessness crisis, so that’s what we’ve been doing.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After learning the ins and outs of building subsidized housing, Jennings wanted to help other churches do the same. In 2019, he started the Kingdom Builders Project, a nonprofit with two goals: to help churches build affordable housing and to make the projects as financially sound as possible to help struggling churches stay afloat. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Kingdom Builders Project has been working with churches across the East Bay on housing projects: four in Oakland and one in Hayward. All the churches are Black churches. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We know in the Black community that Blacks are being displaced in record numbers,” Jennings said. “So as a community, we’re really trying to stem the tide of Black displacement. We’re fighting for our survival.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While building housing may align with a church’s mission to serve its community, it’s not always cost-effective. According to Jennings, this is because faith institutions aren’t familiar with the financing of housing developments and therefore don’t know how to negotiate with savvy housing developers. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We have these situations where nonprofit housing developers are getting land from the church and the church doesn’t benefit from it other than their name on the building,” Jennings said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For example, many affordable housing developers make money through a “developer fee,” a sum of money included in the total housing development costs. Jennings argues housing developers should share that fee with churches, especially if the church is involved in that development process and owns the highly valuable land. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are other ways to access revenue streams, Jennings says, if only churches knew how to tap into them. Traditionally, an affordable housing developer would manage the apartment property or contract it out, but if church members learned how to manage the property, they could keep that revenue. Jennings envisions the church providing other services, too. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Whether it’s computer assistance, whether it’s after-school care, whatever it is — it’s for the community and the residents,” he said. “We would help them develop their services that are going to be housed inside the development so that they can create additional revenue.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jennings also wants to increase the odds that churches can house their own members who are at risk of displacement. Getting a unit in an affordable housing project usually happens by lottery, to make it a fair process. Jennings says that in the time it takes to build the housing, churches can work with their members to help them qualify. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We’re working with them on their credit, we’re working with them on their budgeting, making sure there’s job stability,” Jennings said. “We’re working with them on all the areas so that when the application opens, our people are ready to apply.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The four housing projects in Oakland are in the early stages and haven’t started construction yet, but Jennings says they look promising. The project in Hayward, however, is running into roadblocks from the church’s neighbors and confusing county regulations. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Blessings of Faith church, located a few blocks away from downtown Hayward, wants to build a 42-unit complex for seniors with low incomes in a small parking lot behind the church. Pastor Tally Knott grew up in Hayward, attended the church and witnessed the displacement of seniors and others in her community. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I was always around seniors, so my care for older people came about by just being around them,” said Knott. “This is my home, these are my people. I understand the community here and the needs of the people.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since starting the development process, Knott says the church has gotten pushback from neighbors who fear the apartment building will be too large for the area. Others in surrounding homes fear it will bring crime and disorder to their quiet community. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We live in a community where people are comfortable and don’t want change, but everyone’s going to become older one day,” said Knott. “I was even thinking about putting up signs that say ‘Seniors Matter.’” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite the setbacks, Knott and Jennings are resolute in their goal to build affordable housing in their communities. There’s no guarantee that these projects will work out exactly as envisioned, but it makes sense that faith organizations like the Kingdom Builders Project are giving it a try. Churches and other faith institutions have provided shelter to their communities for centuries.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“With the affordable housing crisis, there are no silver bullets,” said Tia Hicks, program officer at the Bay Area chapter of the nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). “This is just one opportunity to really get at our regional affordable housing crisis.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since 2019, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.lisc.org/bay-area/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">LISC Bay Area\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> has worked with 20 churches in the East Bay that wanted to develop housing on their property. One church is set to start construction on their property by the end of this year while others are selecting development partners and getting started on the approval process. Hicks says faith institutions are some of the best organizations to get involved in housing because they are usually entrenched in the communities they serve and understand the specific needs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It enables communities to retain ownership over what gets built,” she said. “Especially if we’re prioritizing racial equity in our work, in supporting Black congregations, there’s a lot of powerful synergy there.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Homelessness among Latino residents in San Francisco spiked over the last three years — by more than half — even as the city’s total unhoused population dropped slightly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s according to \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/2022.08-PIT-Media-Briefing.pdf\">new detailed findings\u003c/a> city officials released Wednesday. The data comes from a \u003ca href=\"https://hsh.sfgov.org/about/research-and-reports/pit-hic/\">point-in-time homelessness survey\u003c/a> conducted in February, when volunteers fanned out across the city to tally people living on the streets, in vehicles or in shelters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although San Francisco’s overall unhoused population dropped by 3.5% since 2019, when the last count was done, the rate of homelessness among those who identified as Latinx shot up by 55% (from 1,591 to 2,357), according to data from the survey. That means Latinos now make up 30% of the nearly 8,000 unhoused people in San Francisco, despite accounting for only 16% of the city’s general population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922944\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1637px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/LatinxSFHomelessv.2.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11922944\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/LatinxSFHomelessv.2.png\" alt=\"A line chart showing the total and Latinx unhoused population in San Francisco from 2017 - 2022.\" width=\"1637\" height=\"979\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/LatinxSFHomelessv.2.png 1637w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/LatinxSFHomelessv.2-800x478.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/LatinxSFHomelessv.2-1020x610.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/LatinxSFHomelessv.2-160x96.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/LatinxSFHomelessv.2-1536x919.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1637px) 100vw, 1637px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: San Francisco Point in Time Count, via the \u003ca href=\"https://hsh.sfgov.org/about/research-and-reports/pit-hic/\">SF Dept. of Homelessness and Supportive Housing\u003c/a>. \u003ccite>(Matthew Green/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We don’t have a great understanding of the reasons why,” said Emily Cohen, a spokesperson for San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, which ran the survey. “But we also know that [the Latinx] community at this same time has been hit incredibly hard by COVID and the impacts of COVID, in terms of job loss. And we would estimate or make some assumptions about the precipitating impacts onto homelessness.”[aside postID=\"news_11914346\" hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/GettyImages-1236267426-1020x680.jpg']Cohen said her department is ramping up outreach work in the Mission District, in part by increasing partnerships with nonprofits that serve the Latinx community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Francisco Herrera, who works on housing and homelessness issues for the city’s Latino Task Force, said evictions and difficulty accessing COVID rent relief played a major role in forcing more Latinos onto the streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right in the middle of the pandemic, when there was supposed to be a moratorium on evictions, in fact there were tons of evictions,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It all comes down to the severe shortage of affordable housing, Herrera added, a problem that can only be addressed through major policy changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to prioritize affordable housing for people who live, work and have made this city, not market rate housing for people who do not even live here,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the Latino Task Force surveyed more than 100 unhoused residents in the Mission earlier this year, it found that almost a quarter of them said they became homeless during the pandemic, and most were not on any housing waiting list.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s February homelessness count found a total of 7,754 people living on the streets or in shelters, down from 8,035 in 2019. Of those, Black people continued to be the most overrepresented, making up 38% of the city’s unhoused population, despite accounting for only 6% of its general population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Correction: An earlier version of the chart in this story listed the wrong percentage increase among unhoused Latinx residents between 2019 and 2022. It is an increase of 55%, not 30%.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Homelessness among Latino residents in San Francisco spiked over the last three years — by more than half — even as the city’s total unhoused population dropped slightly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s according to \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/2022.08-PIT-Media-Briefing.pdf\">new detailed findings\u003c/a> city officials released Wednesday. The data comes from a \u003ca href=\"https://hsh.sfgov.org/about/research-and-reports/pit-hic/\">point-in-time homelessness survey\u003c/a> conducted in February, when volunteers fanned out across the city to tally people living on the streets, in vehicles or in shelters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although San Francisco’s overall unhoused population dropped by 3.5% since 2019, when the last count was done, the rate of homelessness among those who identified as Latinx shot up by 55% (from 1,591 to 2,357), according to data from the survey. That means Latinos now make up 30% of the nearly 8,000 unhoused people in San Francisco, despite accounting for only 16% of the city’s general population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11922944\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1637px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/LatinxSFHomelessv.2.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11922944\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/LatinxSFHomelessv.2.png\" alt=\"A line chart showing the total and Latinx unhoused population in San Francisco from 2017 - 2022.\" width=\"1637\" height=\"979\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/LatinxSFHomelessv.2.png 1637w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/LatinxSFHomelessv.2-800x478.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/LatinxSFHomelessv.2-1020x610.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/LatinxSFHomelessv.2-160x96.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/LatinxSFHomelessv.2-1536x919.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1637px) 100vw, 1637px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: San Francisco Point in Time Count, via the \u003ca href=\"https://hsh.sfgov.org/about/research-and-reports/pit-hic/\">SF Dept. of Homelessness and Supportive Housing\u003c/a>. \u003ccite>(Matthew Green/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We don’t have a great understanding of the reasons why,” said Emily Cohen, a spokesperson for San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, which ran the survey. “But we also know that [the Latinx] community at this same time has been hit incredibly hard by COVID and the impacts of COVID, in terms of job loss. And we would estimate or make some assumptions about the precipitating impacts onto homelessness.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Cohen said her department is ramping up outreach work in the Mission District, in part by increasing partnerships with nonprofits that serve the Latinx community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Francisco Herrera, who works on housing and homelessness issues for the city’s Latino Task Force, said evictions and difficulty accessing COVID rent relief played a major role in forcing more Latinos onto the streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right in the middle of the pandemic, when there was supposed to be a moratorium on evictions, in fact there were tons of evictions,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It all comes down to the severe shortage of affordable housing, Herrera added, a problem that can only be addressed through major policy changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to prioritize affordable housing for people who live, work and have made this city, not market rate housing for people who do not even live here,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the Latino Task Force surveyed more than 100 unhoused residents in the Mission earlier this year, it found that almost a quarter of them said they became homeless during the pandemic, and most were not on any housing waiting list.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s February homelessness count found a total of 7,754 people living on the streets or in shelters, down from 8,035 in 2019. Of those, Black people continued to be the most overrepresented, making up 38% of the city’s unhoused population, despite accounting for only 6% of its general population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Correction: An earlier version of the chart in this story listed the wrong percentage increase among unhoused Latinx residents between 2019 and 2022. It is an increase of 55%, not 30%.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As community college students return to their campuses, many will find one new resource to count on: a hub where they can seek support in meeting their basic needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Known as basic needs centers, the resources offered differ from campus to campus, but most tend to help students who are experiencing housing and food insecurity. Others also offer other support like paying for auto insurance, finding low-cost medical care, paying for internet and applying for public benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The centers are the result of \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billCompareClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB132&showamends=false\">a new policy\u003c/a> that went into effect on July 1 requiring every campus to hire a basic needs coordinator to begin establishing a physical center. Some campuses have long offered food and housing support and will now add to the resources offered to students.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Rebecca Ruan-O'Shaughnessy, vice chancellor for educational services and support, California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office\"]‘It doesn’t matter how great the classroom experience can be, or how great the instructional materials or instructors are. If students have fundamental needs that cannot be met, they cannot complete and persist in our institutions.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The centers are crucial because students’ needs are constant, officials said, pointing to the experiences of the university campuses that have had basic needs centers for a few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At \u003ca href=\"https://www.calstate.edu/\">California State University\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://basicneeds.ucop.edu/about/services.html\">University of California\u003c/a>, every campus has had a basic needs center for some time. Both systems receive recurring state funding to support the centers: $15 million for the CSU and $18.5 million for the UC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the University of California, Irvine, for example, where \u003ca href=\"https://basicneeds.uci.edu/about-us/our-story.php\">a group of graduate students\u003c/a> first opened a temporary food pantry in 2011, students are contacting the basic needs center for housing support before the new school year begins later this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is probably our biggest crisis right now,” said Christy Molino, rapid rehousing social worker at \u003ca href=\"https://basicneeds.uci.edu/\">UCI Basic Needs\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the Orange County campus, Molino is the single point of contact for students who need to find housing as quickly as possible. She’s part of a larger team at the 37,000-student campus who are the go-to group for addressing students’ basic needs, including financial wellness consultations, support with applying for the state’s food benefits program and emergency grants for students experiencing a medical, mental health, housing or food crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When faculty and staff are approached by students who need help, they know exactly where to refer them. In fact, Molino estimates that half of the students she sees are direct referrals from faculty and staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A university is like a city. … There are so many departments, there are so many people, and having to navigate resources is very challenging,” said Molino, who has been in the position for nearly two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Molino and the rest of the basic needs team at the Irvine campus are tasked with ensuring that students are as prepared as possible and ready to learn on their first day of classes in September and safeguarding continuity in meeting basic needs until the students reach graduation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t matter how great the classroom experience can be, or how great the instructional materials or instructors are. If students have fundamental needs that cannot be met, they cannot complete and persist in our institutions,” said Rebecca Ruan-O’Shaughnessy, vice chancellor for educational services and support at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many basic needs coordinators, particularly at the campuses where centers are newer, are using student orientations during the summer to inform new and continuing students of the services available to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the San Francisco Bay Area, Emily Diehl is the basic needs coordinator of \u003ca href=\"https://www.contracosta.edu/campus/clubs-student-life/wellness-mental-health-resources/\">Comet Wellness\u003c/a> at \u003ca href=\"https://www.4cd.edu/about/docs/Fingertip%20Facts.pdf\">Contra Costa College\u003c/a>, a 10,000-student campus. The center offers an array of services including a food pantry, help with accessing public benefits, free access to mental health therapists (both virtually and in person), free menstrual products in campus restrooms and free breakfast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, she presented at multiple orientations for students from various backgrounds to connect directly with them so they know exactly whom to reach out to for support. This past school year, her first year on the job, she held internal presentations for faculty and staff to urge them to refer students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been such a needed resource, having a dedicated space,” said Diehl. “It’s great that there’s a single point of contact, but there are also limitations because trying to meet all students with many different needs becomes a very big position.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Administrative and technical support for coordinators like Diehl is coming from a team at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. This summer, the office released \u003ca href=\"https://www.cccstudentmentalhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Basic-Needs-Toolkit-2022_0606-1.pdf\">a toolkit for colleges\u003c/a> to use as a reference guide as they establish and grow the centers on their campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, the community college system of 115 on-campus colleges has received a one-time allocation of $100 million and a yearly allocation of $40 million to support coordinators like Diehl and help them develop their teams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Both of those allocations were based on a formula of state funding that included a base amount for each campus to ensure that there was equity,” said Colleen Ganley, program specialist of educational services and support at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. Each campus also received extra funding based on the number of lower-income students receiving the Pell grant. Any remaining funds were distributed to campuses based on the total student population and the number of lower-income students, she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ideally, through the single point of contact, students can access these services without having to go from one office to the other and prove over and over again that they actually need the service. … That’s a huge psychological load that a student has to shoulder,” said Ruan-O’Shaughnessy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The push to establish basic needs centers stems from a California bill passed in 2016. \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB801\">AB 801\u003c/a> required all California community colleges to establish a single point of contact for supporting students with certain basic needs and \u003ca href=\"https://www.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/student-success/basic-needs-initiative\">encouraged the CSU\u003c/a> and UC campuses to do the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That single point of contact, each known as a liaison, would need to be employed in the campus financial aid office so they could assist then-current and former foster youth, unhoused students and unaccompanied unhoused youth, in applying for financial aid so their basic needs could be met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It started to bring attention to the issue of college student homelessness which, at that time, was an issue that was really kind of flying under the radar and not much was being done about it,” said Debbie Raucher, director of education at \u003ca href=\"https://jbay.org/\">John Burton Advocates for Youth\u003c/a>, a nonprofit organization that helps California foster and unhoused youth. “It really was the first attempt to try to create some sort of system of support for students experiencing homelessness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, also known as the FAFSA, students who are experiencing homelessness and are not under the direct care of an adult need to take additional steps to be identified as independent students. Prior to AB 801, there was rarely a designated person who could walk students through the process or let them know they could potentially qualify for additional financial assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“AB 801 was incredibly helpful in that it instituted the position, and it also highlighted the need,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/student-success/Profiles/Pages/Rashida-Crutchfield.aspx\">Rashida Crutchfield\u003c/a>, associate professor of the School of Social Work and director of the Center for Equitable Higher Education, both at CSU Long Beach. “Students have been dealing with this issue a lot longer than we’ve understood that they were or comprehended it as a problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the same campus where Crutchfield is leading research on the impact of basic needs centers, Danielle Muñoz is the director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.csulb.edu/student-affairs/basic-needs-0\">basic needs program\u003c/a>, which provides resources such as short-term emergency housing, hotel vouchers, and grants for unexpected car repairs, in addition to support with applying for the state’s food benefits program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muñoz created the basic needs center at Sacramento State, where she worked for about seven years prior to moving to Long Beach. Regardless of where students are located, students need support because housing and living expenses remain a major challenge, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we provide basic needs services, we promote student mental health, we provide equity to people who have limited resources, and we provide a sense of belonging and cultural inclusion,” said Muñoz. “This is the core of retention work right here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As community college students return to their campuses, many will find one new resource to count on: a hub where they can seek support in meeting their basic needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Known as basic needs centers, the resources offered differ from campus to campus, but most tend to help students who are experiencing housing and food insecurity. Others also offer other support like paying for auto insurance, finding low-cost medical care, paying for internet and applying for public benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The centers are the result of \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billCompareClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB132&showamends=false\">a new policy\u003c/a> that went into effect on July 1 requiring every campus to hire a basic needs coordinator to begin establishing a physical center. Some campuses have long offered food and housing support and will now add to the resources offered to students.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The centers are crucial because students’ needs are constant, officials said, pointing to the experiences of the university campuses that have had basic needs centers for a few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At \u003ca href=\"https://www.calstate.edu/\">California State University\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://basicneeds.ucop.edu/about/services.html\">University of California\u003c/a>, every campus has had a basic needs center for some time. Both systems receive recurring state funding to support the centers: $15 million for the CSU and $18.5 million for the UC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the University of California, Irvine, for example, where \u003ca href=\"https://basicneeds.uci.edu/about-us/our-story.php\">a group of graduate students\u003c/a> first opened a temporary food pantry in 2011, students are contacting the basic needs center for housing support before the new school year begins later this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is probably our biggest crisis right now,” said Christy Molino, rapid rehousing social worker at \u003ca href=\"https://basicneeds.uci.edu/\">UCI Basic Needs\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the Orange County campus, Molino is the single point of contact for students who need to find housing as quickly as possible. She’s part of a larger team at the 37,000-student campus who are the go-to group for addressing students’ basic needs, including financial wellness consultations, support with applying for the state’s food benefits program and emergency grants for students experiencing a medical, mental health, housing or food crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When faculty and staff are approached by students who need help, they know exactly where to refer them. In fact, Molino estimates that half of the students she sees are direct referrals from faculty and staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A university is like a city. … There are so many departments, there are so many people, and having to navigate resources is very challenging,” said Molino, who has been in the position for nearly two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Molino and the rest of the basic needs team at the Irvine campus are tasked with ensuring that students are as prepared as possible and ready to learn on their first day of classes in September and safeguarding continuity in meeting basic needs until the students reach graduation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t matter how great the classroom experience can be, or how great the instructional materials or instructors are. If students have fundamental needs that cannot be met, they cannot complete and persist in our institutions,” said Rebecca Ruan-O’Shaughnessy, vice chancellor for educational services and support at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many basic needs coordinators, particularly at the campuses where centers are newer, are using student orientations during the summer to inform new and continuing students of the services available to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the San Francisco Bay Area, Emily Diehl is the basic needs coordinator of \u003ca href=\"https://www.contracosta.edu/campus/clubs-student-life/wellness-mental-health-resources/\">Comet Wellness\u003c/a> at \u003ca href=\"https://www.4cd.edu/about/docs/Fingertip%20Facts.pdf\">Contra Costa College\u003c/a>, a 10,000-student campus. The center offers an array of services including a food pantry, help with accessing public benefits, free access to mental health therapists (both virtually and in person), free menstrual products in campus restrooms and free breakfast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, she presented at multiple orientations for students from various backgrounds to connect directly with them so they know exactly whom to reach out to for support. This past school year, her first year on the job, she held internal presentations for faculty and staff to urge them to refer students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been such a needed resource, having a dedicated space,” said Diehl. “It’s great that there’s a single point of contact, but there are also limitations because trying to meet all students with many different needs becomes a very big position.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Administrative and technical support for coordinators like Diehl is coming from a team at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. This summer, the office released \u003ca href=\"https://www.cccstudentmentalhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Basic-Needs-Toolkit-2022_0606-1.pdf\">a toolkit for colleges\u003c/a> to use as a reference guide as they establish and grow the centers on their campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, the community college system of 115 on-campus colleges has received a one-time allocation of $100 million and a yearly allocation of $40 million to support coordinators like Diehl and help them develop their teams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Both of those allocations were based on a formula of state funding that included a base amount for each campus to ensure that there was equity,” said Colleen Ganley, program specialist of educational services and support at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. Each campus also received extra funding based on the number of lower-income students receiving the Pell grant. Any remaining funds were distributed to campuses based on the total student population and the number of lower-income students, she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ideally, through the single point of contact, students can access these services without having to go from one office to the other and prove over and over again that they actually need the service. … That’s a huge psychological load that a student has to shoulder,” said Ruan-O’Shaughnessy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The push to establish basic needs centers stems from a California bill passed in 2016. \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB801\">AB 801\u003c/a> required all California community colleges to establish a single point of contact for supporting students with certain basic needs and \u003ca href=\"https://www.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/student-success/basic-needs-initiative\">encouraged the CSU\u003c/a> and UC campuses to do the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That single point of contact, each known as a liaison, would need to be employed in the campus financial aid office so they could assist then-current and former foster youth, unhoused students and unaccompanied unhoused youth, in applying for financial aid so their basic needs could be met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It started to bring attention to the issue of college student homelessness which, at that time, was an issue that was really kind of flying under the radar and not much was being done about it,” said Debbie Raucher, director of education at \u003ca href=\"https://jbay.org/\">John Burton Advocates for Youth\u003c/a>, a nonprofit organization that helps California foster and unhoused youth. “It really was the first attempt to try to create some sort of system of support for students experiencing homelessness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, also known as the FAFSA, students who are experiencing homelessness and are not under the direct care of an adult need to take additional steps to be identified as independent students. Prior to AB 801, there was rarely a designated person who could walk students through the process or let them know they could potentially qualify for additional financial assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“AB 801 was incredibly helpful in that it instituted the position, and it also highlighted the need,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/student-success/Profiles/Pages/Rashida-Crutchfield.aspx\">Rashida Crutchfield\u003c/a>, associate professor of the School of Social Work and director of the Center for Equitable Higher Education, both at CSU Long Beach. “Students have been dealing with this issue a lot longer than we’ve understood that they were or comprehended it as a problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the same campus where Crutchfield is leading research on the impact of basic needs centers, Danielle Muñoz is the director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.csulb.edu/student-affairs/basic-needs-0\">basic needs program\u003c/a>, which provides resources such as short-term emergency housing, hotel vouchers, and grants for unexpected car repairs, in addition to support with applying for the state’s food benefits program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muñoz created the basic needs center at Sacramento State, where she worked for about seven years prior to moving to Long Beach. Regardless of where students are located, students need support because housing and living expenses remain a major challenge, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we provide basic needs services, we promote student mental health, we provide equity to people who have limited resources, and we provide a sense of belonging and cultural inclusion,” said Muñoz. “This is the core of retention work right here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Guests:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Abbie Langston, Director of Equitable Economy, PolicyLink\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rachael Myrow, KQED Silicon Valley Desk senior editor\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jeremy C. Owens, San Francisco bureau chief, MarketWatch \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Something Beautiful: Bill Russell\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last Sunday, the Bay Area and the basketball world lost an icon: Bill Russell is arguably the greatest champion the sport has ever seen. Yet, Russell’s legacy off the court is where he really left a mark. This week’s Something Beautiful celebrates Bill Russell’s impact on sports and the civil rights movement. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "protesters-block-construction-at-berkeleys-peoples-park-after-standoff-with-police",
"title": "City of Berkeley Reconsiders, Then Sustains Police Tear Gas Ban Following Unrest at People's Park",
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"headTitle": "City of Berkeley Reconsiders, Then Sustains Police Tear Gas Ban Following Unrest at People’s Park | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 12 p.m. Friday\u003c/strong>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A California Court of Appeal judge on Thursday issued a temporary stay, ordering UC Berkeley to stop all construction work at People’s Park in Berkeley. The latest injunction comes in response to an appeal filed by two groups — Make UC A Good Neighbor and the People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group — challenging the controversial housing project at the historic site. While the order prevents any further clearing of the park, it does allow the university to re-erect a security fence around the site while the case is being reviewed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are gratified that the Court of Appeal recognized that UC should not go forward until the court has the opportunity to review our case more fully,” Harvey Smith, president of the People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group, said in a statement. “UC took advantage of the legal system in order to destroy as much of the park as it could.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In its statement, UC Berkeley noted that the new injunction would further delay and significantly increase the cost of the project, but said it was pleased the court had agreed to an expedited review process and was allowing the school to “close and secure the construction site pending the expedited ruling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The campus is now assessing options to get that done in a safe, effective way,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 2 p.m. Thursday\u003c/strong>: Just hours after the agenda had been posted, Berkeley’s mayor on Thursday morning canceled \u003ca href=\"https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2022-08-04%20Special%20Agenda%20-%20Council.pdf\">a special city council meeting\u003c/a> that officials had scheduled for that evening to consider temporarily suspending the city’s ban on police use of tear gas, smoke and pepper spray.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m canceling the meeting. Our policy stands,” Mayor Jesse Arreguin \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/JesseArreguin/status/1555243449040793605\">wrote on Twitter\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plans for the meeting — and its abrupt cancellation — came after protesters on Wednesday clashed with police at People’s Park, destroying thousands of dollars of construction equipment and reoccupying the site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before retreating from the park on Wednesday afternoon, UC police arrested seven demonstrators for charges including battery on a peace officer, trespassing and resisting and obstructing or delaying an officer. Two officers involved were injured, and one of the people arrested was released from custody and taken to a local hospital for minor injuries, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921793\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1524px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/FZRw281VQAAaT1R-1.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11921793 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/FZRw281VQAAaT1R-1.jpeg\" alt=\"People on the street watch as a large group of police in riot gear stand in a group.\" width=\"1524\" height=\"1071\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/FZRw281VQAAaT1R-1.jpeg 1524w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/FZRw281VQAAaT1R-1-800x562.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/FZRw281VQAAaT1R-1-1020x717.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/FZRw281VQAAaT1R-1-160x112.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1524px) 100vw, 1524px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">After a tense standoff with protesters, police in riot gear — from multiple agencies, including UC Berkeley PD and the California Highway Patrol — prepare to leave People’s Park on Aug. 3, 2022. Their departure was an ‘effort to avoid further confrontation,’ UC Berkeley officials later said. \u003ccite>(Christopher Alam/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In his tweet, Arreguin also criticized the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, writing, “shame on the Sheriff for threatening to not provide emergency support to Berkeley.” He later clarified that in 2020, after \u003ca href=\"https://records.cityofberkeley.info/PublicAccess/paFiles/cqFiles/index.html\">Berkeley instituted its tear-gas ban\u003c/a> — which applies to any outside agency called to respond to mutual aid in the city — the sheriff’s office said it would no longer respond to the city’s requests for such support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[In 2020], we were informed by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department that they will not send their personnel to Berkeley to respond in a crowd-control situation if we prohibit the use of tear gas,” Arreguin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because the sheriff’s office coordinates the county’s mutual aid response, he explained, the city was concerned about not having adequate law enforcement support if the situation at the park were to grow further out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And so the staff suggested that the council should reconsider the prohibition, at least temporarily,” Arreguin said. “Having thought a great deal about it over the course of the evening, I came to the conclusion that we need to continue our existing policy. That the reasons why I supported the ban in 2020 are still the same — I don’t think chemical agents should be used in modern policing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response, Sgt. Ray Kelly, a spokesperson for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed that deputies were in fact at People’s Park on Wednesday, and that his office, while opposed to the city’s tear gas ban, would never refuse to respond to a major public safety emergency. “We will come to help. I think the city’s understanding of what mutual aid is needed some clarification,” he said and an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked if sheriff’s deputies would abide by Berkeley’s tear gas ban if they came to the city’s aid, Kelly said, “We would not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chanting “Whose Park? People’s Park,” several dozen protesters halted the start of student housing construction at the historic Berkeley park on Wednesday afternoon, tearing down fencing and destroying equipment after a brief, but tense faceoff with police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley, which owns the park, had cleared the site shortly after midnight and erected a fence around it. But by mid-afternoon, the school, in a statement, announced it was pausing \u003ca href=\"https://peoplesparkhousing.berkeley.edu/\">the controversial project\u003c/a> “due to the destruction of construction materials, unlawful protest activity, and violence on the part of some protesters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921498\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtestersOnStreet.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11921498\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtestersOnStreet.jpg\" alt=\"two people sit in the middle of the street as uniformed police in riot gear stand in the background\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtestersOnStreet.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtestersOnStreet-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtestersOnStreet-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtestersOnStreet-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtestersOnStreet-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protesters sit on a street bordering People’s Park on Wednesday. \u003ccite>(Christopher Alam/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The school said it had instructed all workers to leave the site “out of concern for their safety,” following reports that protesters were throwing rocks and bottles at them. It also said it had withdrawn its police force in an “effort to avoid further confrontation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we’re doing right now is assessing options for how we can move forward in a safe fashion, given the fact that we have certain individuals in our community who’ve shown themselves ready, willing and able to engage in violent, unlawful behavior and vandalism,” UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof said. “And we need to find a way to proceed while taking that into account.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/eli_kamisher/status/1554906790260723712\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The university has plans to build a complex that would accommodate about 1,100 students as well as supportive housing for about 125 unhoused people. Part of the property will also be set aside to commemorate the site’s \u003ca href=\"https://sfist.com/2019/04/20/a-brief-history-of-berkeleys-peoples-park/\">significance in the Civil Rights Movement\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The housing project is “incredibly important to the university. It’s an important piece of how we plan to address what is an urgent student housing crisis,” Mogulof said. “We very much want this building to be available when students come to campus in the fall of 2024.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier Wednesday morning, about 100 officers representing multiple agencies, including UC Berkeley PD and the California Highway Patrol, stood guard at the fenced-off park as crews began felling trees to the derision of onlookers who were mostly kept outside barricades. At one point, shouting protesters and police, some in riot gear, came face to face before officers were told to stand down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtesterLedAway.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11921497 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtesterLedAway.jpg\" alt=\"person in leopard print shirt with hands cuffed is led away by a police officer in riot gear\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtesterLedAway.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtesterLedAway-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtesterLedAway-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtesterLedAway-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtesterLedAway-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An unidentified protester is led away by police after being arrested at People’s Park on Wednesday. But by the afternoon, with little trace of law enforcement remaining at the scene, the mainly young group of demonstrators tore down the rest of the fencing and proceeded to smash the windows and mechanical components of the bulldozers and earthmovers that workers had abandoned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Susanna, a demonstrator who declined to give her last name, said she was here to protect the more-than-50-year-old park and its green space, as well as the large unhoused community of people that have been living here for years in a sprawling encampment.[aside postID=news_11861666 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/02/RS47366_032_Berkeley_PeoplesPark_02192021-qut-1020x680.jpg']“I care for the unhoused community. Like they don’t have the privilege that I have to go home and sleep in a bed,” she said, noting she didn’t trust the university to follow through on its promise to build supportive housing for people in need. “You know, most of these people have mental issues and they don’t have medical care or support from friends or family, and we are kicking them out from the park. This is their last resort, their last hope.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doug Buchwald, another demonstrator, said preserving open space and trees was critical in the fight against climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody knows that, UC knows that, they teach it in their environmental science classes,” he said. “And yet when it comes to taking control of land that it wants to do something with, they throw all ethics out the window.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And not to mention, you know, the Grateful Dead played on that stage, right over there,” added protester Alyssa Moore, pointing to a now-empty field. “Any other place and space and time anywhere in America, this would be a protected area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 100 opponents of the project rallied at UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza on Wednesday evening, before marching several blocks back to the park, where some activists encouraged demonstrators to stay there around the clock to ward off any additional attempts at resuming construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921577\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11921577 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"tree trunks on the ground of a park\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tree trunks that construction crews had cut down early that morning, before being stopped by protesters, lay scattered around People’s Park on Aug. 3, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley’s unannounced move to begin construction Wednesday followed a ruling from an Alameda County Superior Court judge on Friday allowing the school to move forward with its housing plan, despite community groups suing to stop it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harvey Smith, with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.peoplesparkhxdist.org/\">People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group\u003c/a>, said he was disappointed by the university’s early-morning construction attempt, but hardly surprised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“UC was obviously very primed to do this and the judge opened the door and they walked right in,” he said. “We are fully prepared to appeal this and ask for another stay at demolition. And our lawyers are working on that as we speak.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921576\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57538_012_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11921576\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57538_012_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57538_012_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57538_012_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57538_012_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57538_012_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57538_012_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Demonstrators march down Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, from Sproul Hall to People’s Park on Aug. 3, 2022, to protest UC Berkeley’s attempt to start building student housing at the park. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Doris Moskowitz, who owns the nearby legendary Moe’s Books, said that while she respects the park’s history, she ultimately supports the university’s plans. Many people have avoided the area in recent years, she said, because of real safety concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’ve come up with what sounds like a good plan for making a space for both green space, low-income housing and student housing,” she said. “So they’re trying to meet the needs of the community – but you know everyone’s sad when there’s green space going away. So we’re having conflicted feelings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921525\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/DSC_6619.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11921525\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/DSC_6619.jpg\" alt=\"Windows smashed in a construction vehicle\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/DSC_6619.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/DSC_6619-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/DSC_6619-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/DSC_6619-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/DSC_6619-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A damaged construction loader sits at People’s Park in Berkeley after protesters smashed out the windows on Aug. 3, 2022. \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"https://www.jonnyshotit.com/About-me\">Jonathan Hale\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The protests harked back to the spring of 1969, when community organizers banded together to turn a site that the state and university seized under eminent domain and turned into a gathering space they named People’s Park. After the university at the time erected a fence around the park, protesters sought to reclaim it, triggering bloody battles that resulted in police shooting and killing one man and wounding dozens of others. That May 15, 1969 uprising, known as “Bloody Thursday,” triggered even more protests and then-Gov. Ronald Reagan summoned the National Guard to occupy Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It certainly does bring memories about the arrogance of the university and its unwillingness to consider the concerns of the community,” said Dan Siegel, now a labor lawyer, who was a student at the law school in 1969. Siegel was arrested on Bloody Thursday after giving a speech at a campus rally in which he implored the crowd to “go down there and take the park.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921578\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57549_024_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11921578\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57549_024_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"an older woman speaks into a microphone at a park\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57549_024_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57549_024_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57549_024_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57549_024_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57549_024_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Longtime activist Jane Stillwater, who has fought to preserve People’s Park for decades, speaks to protesters gathered at the park on Wednesday evening. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story includes additional reporting from KQED’s Christopher Alam and The Associated Press.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "After protesters clashed with police and halted construction at the park, the city weighed temporarily suspending its ban, amid concerns that outside law enforcement agencies wouldn’t provide backup If needed.",
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"title": "City of Berkeley Reconsiders, Then Sustains Police Tear Gas Ban Following Unrest at People's Park | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 12 p.m. Friday\u003c/strong>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A California Court of Appeal judge on Thursday issued a temporary stay, ordering UC Berkeley to stop all construction work at People’s Park in Berkeley. The latest injunction comes in response to an appeal filed by two groups — Make UC A Good Neighbor and the People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group — challenging the controversial housing project at the historic site. While the order prevents any further clearing of the park, it does allow the university to re-erect a security fence around the site while the case is being reviewed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are gratified that the Court of Appeal recognized that UC should not go forward until the court has the opportunity to review our case more fully,” Harvey Smith, president of the People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group, said in a statement. “UC took advantage of the legal system in order to destroy as much of the park as it could.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In its statement, UC Berkeley noted that the new injunction would further delay and significantly increase the cost of the project, but said it was pleased the court had agreed to an expedited review process and was allowing the school to “close and secure the construction site pending the expedited ruling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The campus is now assessing options to get that done in a safe, effective way,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 2 p.m. Thursday\u003c/strong>: Just hours after the agenda had been posted, Berkeley’s mayor on Thursday morning canceled \u003ca href=\"https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2022-08-04%20Special%20Agenda%20-%20Council.pdf\">a special city council meeting\u003c/a> that officials had scheduled for that evening to consider temporarily suspending the city’s ban on police use of tear gas, smoke and pepper spray.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m canceling the meeting. Our policy stands,” Mayor Jesse Arreguin \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/JesseArreguin/status/1555243449040793605\">wrote on Twitter\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plans for the meeting — and its abrupt cancellation — came after protesters on Wednesday clashed with police at People’s Park, destroying thousands of dollars of construction equipment and reoccupying the site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before retreating from the park on Wednesday afternoon, UC police arrested seven demonstrators for charges including battery on a peace officer, trespassing and resisting and obstructing or delaying an officer. Two officers involved were injured, and one of the people arrested was released from custody and taken to a local hospital for minor injuries, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921793\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1524px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/FZRw281VQAAaT1R-1.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11921793 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/FZRw281VQAAaT1R-1.jpeg\" alt=\"People on the street watch as a large group of police in riot gear stand in a group.\" width=\"1524\" height=\"1071\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/FZRw281VQAAaT1R-1.jpeg 1524w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/FZRw281VQAAaT1R-1-800x562.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/FZRw281VQAAaT1R-1-1020x717.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/FZRw281VQAAaT1R-1-160x112.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1524px) 100vw, 1524px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">After a tense standoff with protesters, police in riot gear — from multiple agencies, including UC Berkeley PD and the California Highway Patrol — prepare to leave People’s Park on Aug. 3, 2022. Their departure was an ‘effort to avoid further confrontation,’ UC Berkeley officials later said. \u003ccite>(Christopher Alam/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In his tweet, Arreguin also criticized the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, writing, “shame on the Sheriff for threatening to not provide emergency support to Berkeley.” He later clarified that in 2020, after \u003ca href=\"https://records.cityofberkeley.info/PublicAccess/paFiles/cqFiles/index.html\">Berkeley instituted its tear-gas ban\u003c/a> — which applies to any outside agency called to respond to mutual aid in the city — the sheriff’s office said it would no longer respond to the city’s requests for such support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[In 2020], we were informed by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department that they will not send their personnel to Berkeley to respond in a crowd-control situation if we prohibit the use of tear gas,” Arreguin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because the sheriff’s office coordinates the county’s mutual aid response, he explained, the city was concerned about not having adequate law enforcement support if the situation at the park were to grow further out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And so the staff suggested that the council should reconsider the prohibition, at least temporarily,” Arreguin said. “Having thought a great deal about it over the course of the evening, I came to the conclusion that we need to continue our existing policy. That the reasons why I supported the ban in 2020 are still the same — I don’t think chemical agents should be used in modern policing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response, Sgt. Ray Kelly, a spokesperson for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed that deputies were in fact at People’s Park on Wednesday, and that his office, while opposed to the city’s tear gas ban, would never refuse to respond to a major public safety emergency. “We will come to help. I think the city’s understanding of what mutual aid is needed some clarification,” he said and an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked if sheriff’s deputies would abide by Berkeley’s tear gas ban if they came to the city’s aid, Kelly said, “We would not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chanting “Whose Park? People’s Park,” several dozen protesters halted the start of student housing construction at the historic Berkeley park on Wednesday afternoon, tearing down fencing and destroying equipment after a brief, but tense faceoff with police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley, which owns the park, had cleared the site shortly after midnight and erected a fence around it. But by mid-afternoon, the school, in a statement, announced it was pausing \u003ca href=\"https://peoplesparkhousing.berkeley.edu/\">the controversial project\u003c/a> “due to the destruction of construction materials, unlawful protest activity, and violence on the part of some protesters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921498\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtestersOnStreet.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11921498\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtestersOnStreet.jpg\" alt=\"two people sit in the middle of the street as uniformed police in riot gear stand in the background\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtestersOnStreet.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtestersOnStreet-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtestersOnStreet-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtestersOnStreet-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtestersOnStreet-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protesters sit on a street bordering People’s Park on Wednesday. \u003ccite>(Christopher Alam/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The school said it had instructed all workers to leave the site “out of concern for their safety,” following reports that protesters were throwing rocks and bottles at them. It also said it had withdrawn its police force in an “effort to avoid further confrontation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we’re doing right now is assessing options for how we can move forward in a safe fashion, given the fact that we have certain individuals in our community who’ve shown themselves ready, willing and able to engage in violent, unlawful behavior and vandalism,” UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof said. “And we need to find a way to proceed while taking that into account.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>The university has plans to build a complex that would accommodate about 1,100 students as well as supportive housing for about 125 unhoused people. Part of the property will also be set aside to commemorate the site’s \u003ca href=\"https://sfist.com/2019/04/20/a-brief-history-of-berkeleys-peoples-park/\">significance in the Civil Rights Movement\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The housing project is “incredibly important to the university. It’s an important piece of how we plan to address what is an urgent student housing crisis,” Mogulof said. “We very much want this building to be available when students come to campus in the fall of 2024.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier Wednesday morning, about 100 officers representing multiple agencies, including UC Berkeley PD and the California Highway Patrol, stood guard at the fenced-off park as crews began felling trees to the derision of onlookers who were mostly kept outside barricades. At one point, shouting protesters and police, some in riot gear, came face to face before officers were told to stand down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtesterLedAway.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11921497 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtesterLedAway.jpg\" alt=\"person in leopard print shirt with hands cuffed is led away by a police officer in riot gear\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtesterLedAway.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtesterLedAway-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtesterLedAway-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtesterLedAway-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/ProtesterLedAway-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An unidentified protester is led away by police after being arrested at People’s Park on Wednesday. But by the afternoon, with little trace of law enforcement remaining at the scene, the mainly young group of demonstrators tore down the rest of the fencing and proceeded to smash the windows and mechanical components of the bulldozers and earthmovers that workers had abandoned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Susanna, a demonstrator who declined to give her last name, said she was here to protect the more-than-50-year-old park and its green space, as well as the large unhoused community of people that have been living here for years in a sprawling encampment.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I care for the unhoused community. Like they don’t have the privilege that I have to go home and sleep in a bed,” she said, noting she didn’t trust the university to follow through on its promise to build supportive housing for people in need. “You know, most of these people have mental issues and they don’t have medical care or support from friends or family, and we are kicking them out from the park. This is their last resort, their last hope.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doug Buchwald, another demonstrator, said preserving open space and trees was critical in the fight against climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody knows that, UC knows that, they teach it in their environmental science classes,” he said. “And yet when it comes to taking control of land that it wants to do something with, they throw all ethics out the window.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And not to mention, you know, the Grateful Dead played on that stage, right over there,” added protester Alyssa Moore, pointing to a now-empty field. “Any other place and space and time anywhere in America, this would be a protected area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 100 opponents of the project rallied at UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza on Wednesday evening, before marching several blocks back to the park, where some activists encouraged demonstrators to stay there around the clock to ward off any additional attempts at resuming construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921577\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11921577 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"tree trunks on the ground of a park\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57544_016_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tree trunks that construction crews had cut down early that morning, before being stopped by protesters, lay scattered around People’s Park on Aug. 3, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley’s unannounced move to begin construction Wednesday followed a ruling from an Alameda County Superior Court judge on Friday allowing the school to move forward with its housing plan, despite community groups suing to stop it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harvey Smith, with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.peoplesparkhxdist.org/\">People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group\u003c/a>, said he was disappointed by the university’s early-morning construction attempt, but hardly surprised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“UC was obviously very primed to do this and the judge opened the door and they walked right in,” he said. “We are fully prepared to appeal this and ask for another stay at demolition. And our lawyers are working on that as we speak.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921576\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57538_012_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11921576\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57538_012_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57538_012_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57538_012_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57538_012_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57538_012_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57538_012_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Demonstrators march down Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, from Sproul Hall to People’s Park on Aug. 3, 2022, to protest UC Berkeley’s attempt to start building student housing at the park. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Doris Moskowitz, who owns the nearby legendary Moe’s Books, said that while she respects the park’s history, she ultimately supports the university’s plans. Many people have avoided the area in recent years, she said, because of real safety concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’ve come up with what sounds like a good plan for making a space for both green space, low-income housing and student housing,” she said. “So they’re trying to meet the needs of the community – but you know everyone’s sad when there’s green space going away. So we’re having conflicted feelings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921525\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/DSC_6619.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11921525\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/DSC_6619.jpg\" alt=\"Windows smashed in a construction vehicle\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/DSC_6619.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/DSC_6619-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/DSC_6619-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/DSC_6619-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/DSC_6619-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A damaged construction loader sits at People’s Park in Berkeley after protesters smashed out the windows on Aug. 3, 2022. \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"https://www.jonnyshotit.com/About-me\">Jonathan Hale\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The protests harked back to the spring of 1969, when community organizers banded together to turn a site that the state and university seized under eminent domain and turned into a gathering space they named People’s Park. After the university at the time erected a fence around the park, protesters sought to reclaim it, triggering bloody battles that resulted in police shooting and killing one man and wounding dozens of others. That May 15, 1969 uprising, known as “Bloody Thursday,” triggered even more protests and then-Gov. Ronald Reagan summoned the National Guard to occupy Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It certainly does bring memories about the arrogance of the university and its unwillingness to consider the concerns of the community,” said Dan Siegel, now a labor lawyer, who was a student at the law school in 1969. Siegel was arrested on Bloody Thursday after giving a speech at a campus rally in which he implored the crowd to “go down there and take the park.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921578\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57549_024_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11921578\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57549_024_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"an older woman speaks into a microphone at a park\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57549_024_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57549_024_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57549_024_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57549_024_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57549_024_KQED_PeoplesParkRally_08032022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Longtime activist Jane Stillwater, who has fought to preserve People’s Park for decades, speaks to protesters gathered at the park on Wednesday evening. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story includes additional reporting from KQED’s Christopher Alam and The Associated Press.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Last Days at the Radisson: As State Shelter Program Shutters, Formerly Unhoused Residents in Oakland Brace for Next Steps",
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"content": "\u003cp>As Horace Cage tells it, the formula that got him off the streets is simple.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I changed all my nouns,” he says, referring to his social circle. “The people I hang around, the places I go, the things I do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it took him a long time. The 55-year-old Oakland native spent a little over two decades homeless or behind bars. He couch surfed and lived in his car. He settled into a tiny home encampment, then a safe RV parking site. That’s where he heard about Project Roomkey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He was skeptical. The offer sounded a little too good to be true — his own motel room, free meals and permanent housing placement within three months — but he was trying to clean up. He says he’d stopped using meth after an accidental fentanyl overdose almost killed him late last year, so he took a chance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921176\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57377_002_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11921176 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57377_002_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"a Black man in a white shirt makes pancakes, standing at the stove in his apartment\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57377_002_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57377_002_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57377_002_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57377_002_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57377_002_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Horace Cage makes pancakes at his home in Oakland. Cage was formerly unhoused and through Project Roomkey lived in a Radisson hotel before being placed in an apartment. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He got his room at the Radisson, near the Oakland airport, in mid-February. The first thing he did was get in the shower. After relying on porta-potties and a twice weekly visit from a mobile shower truck at the RV site, having a private bathroom was a small miracle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I haven’t missed a day of showering since I started,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cage joined the more than 50,000 people Project Roomkey has served across the state since April 2020, when California leaders took the unprecedented step of making motels available for use as homeless shelters early in the pandemic. Now, with funding drying up, the last remaining sites are preparing to close. That means finding a new place to live for some 6,000 people statewide who still call the motels home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The Radisson was Alameda County’s last Roomkey site, closing just last week, and Cage was among the last wave of residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During his time there, Cage worked with Roomkey staff to line up all the necessary documents and applications needed to get a Section 8 voucher. By late June, he had an apartment in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a sunny one-bedroom. His dog, Little Girl, happily gnaws a bone on one of Cage’s new rugs while he works on assembling his bed — “the meat and potatoes of the apartment,” as he sees it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921214\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57381_008_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11921214 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57381_008_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a white shirt and blue shorts stands in the kitchen, petting a big black dog\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57381_008_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57381_008_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57381_008_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57381_008_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57381_008_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Horace Cage pets his dog at his home in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In his first night in the apartment he couldn’t sleep, overwhelmed by the change. In the unfamiliar quiet, his mind reeled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You reflect on things you really didn’t want to deal with, like pains that come from things you’ve done, things you want to do, things you should have done,” says Cage, who has been too ashamed to see his three children for years. “It all takes a toll.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the place has him hopeful, too. One of the first things he tacked on the wall is a Christmas stocking that had been rolling around his RV for years, waiting for a grandkid to claim its contents. Cage, who was once married, had a job as a machine operator and owned a house, is thinking about having family over for the holidays.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Transforming the system\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Living on his own, with help paying rent and bills, Cage is considered a Project Roomkey success story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The outcomes have just been phenomenally high in terms of getting people placed into permanent housing and not seeing people exit back to the street,” says Kerry Abbott, director of the county’s \u003ca href=\"https://homelessness.acgov.org/\">Office of Homeless Care and Coordination\u003c/a>.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11909202,news_11847782\"]Almost two-thirds of the 2,100 people who’ve left Project Roomkey in Alameda County have gone on to permanent housing, compared to less than 30% of those coming out of emergency shelters. Abbott credits the privacy of the hotels and housing resources available at the sites for enticing more people to leave the streets in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It comes with a hefty price tag. According to a county report, Roomkey costs about $260 a night per person, while congregate shelters cost around $50.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Statewide, the program hasn’t seen the same level of success. As of February, 22% of Roomkey participants left for permanent housing, while 15% returned to the streets and 18% to unknown destinations. Another 35% exited to temporary housing or congregate shelter, while 10% have moved to institutions or other destinations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, as Roomkey sunsets, Abbott says her office is carrying the program’s lessons forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The pandemic has permanently changed our outlook on shelter,” she says, explaining the county is looking to boost its non-congregate shelter capacity. “We’re transforming our system rather than letting this really important intervention go away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The devil is in the details’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Tajanik Thompson, the prospect of a private room and bathroom sold her on Project Roomkey. Now 31, Thompson had preferred the streets to shelters since she was a teenager, choosing tents or cars over sleeping in a dorm with strangers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like Cage, Thompson says she was working to improve her situation when the Project Roomkey offer came up. She’d stopped doing sex work, but getting clean and addressing her mental health concerns on the streets wasn’t easy “because of my environment,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was in West Oakland,” she says, “and there’s nothing but drugs around there everywhere, just surrounded.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921167\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57481_005_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11921167 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57481_005_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling Black woman with bright red braids stands against a window and the yellow wall of a hotel.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57481_005_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57481_005_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57481_005_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57481_005_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57481_005_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tajanik Thompson stands outside of a former Comfort Inn that has been converted to supportive housing. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Thompson, who grew up in Oakland, was kidnapped as an adolescent and forced into sex work, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-police-seek-missing-girl-2633097.php\">news reports\u003c/a>. She’d lived on the streets since then, and says she’s been assaulted numerous times. Between worrying about her safety and staying warm and fed, there wasn’t a lot of energy for meeting with counselors, tracking down documents and all the other steps required to line up housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What the hotels did is it gave stability to a population that otherwise doesn’t have it,” says Andrea Henson, an attorney with \u003ca href=\"https://ebclc.org/\">East Bay Community Law Center\u003c/a> and longtime advocate for the unhoused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thompson says she got to be alone at the Radisson. She made a schedule for the first time in her life. She enrolled in a GED program, and started working with a therapist and a housing navigator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was able to think, period,” she says. “I had peace of mind. I was able to get away from everything and everybody.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921186\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57489_009_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11921186 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57489_009_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"a Black woman with bright red braids eats takeout lunch at a table in a motel lobby in front of an orange wall and a display case full of pamphlets\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57489_009_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57489_009_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57489_009_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57489_009_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57489_009_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tajanik Thompson sits in the lobby of Project Homekey housing, a former Comfort Inn, after receiving lunch. She is living at the hotel while waiting for permanent housing. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Project Roomkey is successful because so many people are supporting the residents,” Henson says, emphasizing that the support network that made the program successful extended far beyond Roomkey staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thompson, for example, found herself shuffled from one Roomkey case manager to another, feeling left in the dark about her housing prospects. Then Kai Gault, an outreach specialist for \u003ca href=\"http://homelessactioncenter.org/\">Homeless Action Center\u003c/a>, stepped in to shepherd her case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s Kai who’s actually been there for me, let me know things, given me updates,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Thompson couldn’t get answers from her Roomkey case manager, her anxiety would spike. It often fell to Gault to sort things out and assuage Thompson’s fears, though Gault also found it difficult to contact staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921187\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57398_004_KQED_KaiGaultHousingNavigator_07262022-qut-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11921187 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57398_004_KQED_KaiGaultHousingNavigator_07262022-qut-1.jpg\" alt='A Black woman wearing a black suit and glasses sits in front of a blue and red mural that reads \"Home\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57398_004_KQED_KaiGaultHousingNavigator_07262022-qut-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57398_004_KQED_KaiGaultHousingNavigator_07262022-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57398_004_KQED_KaiGaultHousingNavigator_07262022-qut-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57398_004_KQED_KaiGaultHousingNavigator_07262022-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57398_004_KQED_KaiGaultHousingNavigator_07262022-qut-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kai Gault, a housing navigator, sits outside of the Homeless Action Center in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“My experience with Roomkey, specifically, is that some of these sites are staffed by people who aren’t proficient in helping people with disabilities — mental or physical disabilities,” Gault says. “Sometimes they don’t understand how the system truly works. I’ve had to explain how the document gathering process works, which is a pretty fundamental part of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Thompson is working with Gault to get ready to move into permanent supportive housing. There’s an apartment designated for her, but it’s in a new building that’s not quite ready for her to move in yet, and Thompson is getting antsy. In the meantime, she’s moved from the Radisson to the Comfort Inn next door, a former Roomkey site now owned by the county through Project Homekey, a separate state-sponsored program that buys motels, hotels and office buildings to convert into long-term housing. But Thompson won’t be sticking around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m ready to get the hell out of here,” says Thompson, who, like other Roomkey residents, has complained about moldy walls and room doors with crowbar marks from forced entries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gault expects Thompson will be moving into her apartment this month.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"forum_2010101883846,news_11910405\"]“There are people getting housed. They are getting off the streets and that’s amazing, that’s very needed,” Gault says. “The devil’s in the details.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think overall, we did a really phenomenal job in housing as many people as we did,” says Vince Russo, who manages the Radisson for \u003ca href=\"https://www.abodeservices.org/\">Abode Services\u003c/a>, a housing nonprofit that’s run Roomkey sites around the Bay Area. “Could some of us use more empathy in working with others? Yes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Russo says staff turnover has been a challenge. People who weren’t performing were fired; others quit. A single case manager could be working with as many as 50 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of mid-July, there were still about 60 people living at the Radisson, and it’s up to Russo and his team to place them in a new home. Some residents will likely end up back on the street if they refuse what is offered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really going to be their choice,” Russo says. “If we say, ‘Look, these are the only two choices we have … where do you want to be? Do you want to go back to the street?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Impossible choices\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Currently, one in five people who’ve participated in Project Roomkey in Alameda County are either back on the streets or in a shelter, according to county data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That includes Michael Dailey and his family, who ended up at the Radisson this spring after getting bumped from one Roomkey hotel to another. They were given choices, but it wasn’t that simple.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They offered us three different places to live, all in East Oakland, really far away from our kids’ school,” Dailey says.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Brigitte Nicoletti, attorney with the East Bay Community Law Center\"]‘It shouldn’t be on this mother-of-three to badger her case manager to find her housing.’[/pullquote]Dailey and his wife, Danielle Desjardins, have two of their three kids enrolled in elementary school in Berkeley. Commuting from the Radisson in East Oakland, especially with high gas prices, made getting the kids to school a daily struggle. They knew living out there wouldn’t be sustainable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We couldn’t get them there,” Desjardins says. “We couldn’t get them to school and it made me feel like a really shitty mother that I couldn’t do a better job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They told the Radisson staff they were desperate to live closer to the school. But they felt trapped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I kept saying, ‘Can we just leave? Can we still get housing assistance if we go somewhere else?’” Desjardins says. “And they would tell us that we would be on our own and we wouldn’t get housing help.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921213\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1199285776-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11921213 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1199285776-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a makeshift sign that says 'community' above a homeless encampment\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1199285776-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1199285776-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1199285776-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1199285776-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1199285776-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1199285776-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1199285776-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A community garden grows outside a homeless encampment in Oakland. According to county data, one in five people who have participated in Project Roomkey in Alameda County are either in a shelter or back on the streets. \u003ccite>(Philip Pacheco/AFP via Getty Images))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After almost two years bouncing between Roomkey sites in the East Bay, the family finally managed to get a Section 8 voucher for Berkeley with the help of a lawyer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that it’s taken them this long is really shocking,” says Brigitte Nicoletti, a lawyer with the East Bay Community Law Center who’s representing the family. “It shouldn’t be on this mother-of-three to badger her case manager to find her housing. It should be the other way around.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But before the family could find an apartment, they say they got kicked out of the Radisson. They’d been trying to build a tiny home in Berkeley and hadn’t been spending enough time at the hotel to keep their spot. The family stayed in their car, in their storage unit, and with Dailey’s mom in Lake County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We also don’t mind camping,” their seven-year-old daughter, Esme, pipes up. “Set up in a nice park, park our car outside and just camp. It doesn’t matter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At least you get to school on time every day, right?” Desjardins responds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Section 8 voucher doesn’t guarantee that they’ll find a place with a landlord who’ll embrace their family of five.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re in a scary time of changes and uncertainty,” Desjardins says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was updated to reflect that the Radisson closed at the end of July.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Project Roomkey, introduced in 2020 to get unhoused Californians off the street, is winding down — and an East Bay hotel is one of its last remaining sites. ",
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"title": "Last Days at the Radisson: As State Shelter Program Shutters, Formerly Unhoused Residents in Oakland Brace for Next Steps | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As Horace Cage tells it, the formula that got him off the streets is simple.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I changed all my nouns,” he says, referring to his social circle. “The people I hang around, the places I go, the things I do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it took him a long time. The 55-year-old Oakland native spent a little over two decades homeless or behind bars. He couch surfed and lived in his car. He settled into a tiny home encampment, then a safe RV parking site. That’s where he heard about Project Roomkey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He was skeptical. The offer sounded a little too good to be true — his own motel room, free meals and permanent housing placement within three months — but he was trying to clean up. He says he’d stopped using meth after an accidental fentanyl overdose almost killed him late last year, so he took a chance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921176\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57377_002_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11921176 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57377_002_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"a Black man in a white shirt makes pancakes, standing at the stove in his apartment\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57377_002_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57377_002_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57377_002_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57377_002_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57377_002_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Horace Cage makes pancakes at his home in Oakland. Cage was formerly unhoused and through Project Roomkey lived in a Radisson hotel before being placed in an apartment. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He got his room at the Radisson, near the Oakland airport, in mid-February. The first thing he did was get in the shower. After relying on porta-potties and a twice weekly visit from a mobile shower truck at the RV site, having a private bathroom was a small miracle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I haven’t missed a day of showering since I started,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cage joined the more than 50,000 people Project Roomkey has served across the state since April 2020, when California leaders took the unprecedented step of making motels available for use as homeless shelters early in the pandemic. Now, with funding drying up, the last remaining sites are preparing to close. That means finding a new place to live for some 6,000 people statewide who still call the motels home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The Radisson was Alameda County’s last Roomkey site, closing just last week, and Cage was among the last wave of residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During his time there, Cage worked with Roomkey staff to line up all the necessary documents and applications needed to get a Section 8 voucher. By late June, he had an apartment in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a sunny one-bedroom. His dog, Little Girl, happily gnaws a bone on one of Cage’s new rugs while he works on assembling his bed — “the meat and potatoes of the apartment,” as he sees it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921214\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57381_008_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11921214 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57381_008_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a white shirt and blue shorts stands in the kitchen, petting a big black dog\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57381_008_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57381_008_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57381_008_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57381_008_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57381_008_KQED_ProjectRoomkeyHoraceCage_07192022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Horace Cage pets his dog at his home in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In his first night in the apartment he couldn’t sleep, overwhelmed by the change. In the unfamiliar quiet, his mind reeled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You reflect on things you really didn’t want to deal with, like pains that come from things you’ve done, things you want to do, things you should have done,” says Cage, who has been too ashamed to see his three children for years. “It all takes a toll.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the place has him hopeful, too. One of the first things he tacked on the wall is a Christmas stocking that had been rolling around his RV for years, waiting for a grandkid to claim its contents. Cage, who was once married, had a job as a machine operator and owned a house, is thinking about having family over for the holidays.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Transforming the system\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Living on his own, with help paying rent and bills, Cage is considered a Project Roomkey success story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The outcomes have just been phenomenally high in terms of getting people placed into permanent housing and not seeing people exit back to the street,” says Kerry Abbott, director of the county’s \u003ca href=\"https://homelessness.acgov.org/\">Office of Homeless Care and Coordination\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Almost two-thirds of the 2,100 people who’ve left Project Roomkey in Alameda County have gone on to permanent housing, compared to less than 30% of those coming out of emergency shelters. Abbott credits the privacy of the hotels and housing resources available at the sites for enticing more people to leave the streets in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It comes with a hefty price tag. According to a county report, Roomkey costs about $260 a night per person, while congregate shelters cost around $50.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Statewide, the program hasn’t seen the same level of success. As of February, 22% of Roomkey participants left for permanent housing, while 15% returned to the streets and 18% to unknown destinations. Another 35% exited to temporary housing or congregate shelter, while 10% have moved to institutions or other destinations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, as Roomkey sunsets, Abbott says her office is carrying the program’s lessons forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The pandemic has permanently changed our outlook on shelter,” she says, explaining the county is looking to boost its non-congregate shelter capacity. “We’re transforming our system rather than letting this really important intervention go away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The devil is in the details’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Tajanik Thompson, the prospect of a private room and bathroom sold her on Project Roomkey. Now 31, Thompson had preferred the streets to shelters since she was a teenager, choosing tents or cars over sleeping in a dorm with strangers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like Cage, Thompson says she was working to improve her situation when the Project Roomkey offer came up. She’d stopped doing sex work, but getting clean and addressing her mental health concerns on the streets wasn’t easy “because of my environment,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was in West Oakland,” she says, “and there’s nothing but drugs around there everywhere, just surrounded.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921167\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57481_005_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11921167 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57481_005_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling Black woman with bright red braids stands against a window and the yellow wall of a hotel.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57481_005_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57481_005_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57481_005_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57481_005_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57481_005_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tajanik Thompson stands outside of a former Comfort Inn that has been converted to supportive housing. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Thompson, who grew up in Oakland, was kidnapped as an adolescent and forced into sex work, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-police-seek-missing-girl-2633097.php\">news reports\u003c/a>. She’d lived on the streets since then, and says she’s been assaulted numerous times. Between worrying about her safety and staying warm and fed, there wasn’t a lot of energy for meeting with counselors, tracking down documents and all the other steps required to line up housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What the hotels did is it gave stability to a population that otherwise doesn’t have it,” says Andrea Henson, an attorney with \u003ca href=\"https://ebclc.org/\">East Bay Community Law Center\u003c/a> and longtime advocate for the unhoused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thompson says she got to be alone at the Radisson. She made a schedule for the first time in her life. She enrolled in a GED program, and started working with a therapist and a housing navigator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was able to think, period,” she says. “I had peace of mind. I was able to get away from everything and everybody.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921186\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57489_009_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11921186 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57489_009_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"a Black woman with bright red braids eats takeout lunch at a table in a motel lobby in front of an orange wall and a display case full of pamphlets\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57489_009_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57489_009_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57489_009_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57489_009_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57489_009_KQED_TajanikThompsonProjectRoomkey_07292022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tajanik Thompson sits in the lobby of Project Homekey housing, a former Comfort Inn, after receiving lunch. She is living at the hotel while waiting for permanent housing. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Project Roomkey is successful because so many people are supporting the residents,” Henson says, emphasizing that the support network that made the program successful extended far beyond Roomkey staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thompson, for example, found herself shuffled from one Roomkey case manager to another, feeling left in the dark about her housing prospects. Then Kai Gault, an outreach specialist for \u003ca href=\"http://homelessactioncenter.org/\">Homeless Action Center\u003c/a>, stepped in to shepherd her case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s Kai who’s actually been there for me, let me know things, given me updates,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Thompson couldn’t get answers from her Roomkey case manager, her anxiety would spike. It often fell to Gault to sort things out and assuage Thompson’s fears, though Gault also found it difficult to contact staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921187\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57398_004_KQED_KaiGaultHousingNavigator_07262022-qut-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11921187 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57398_004_KQED_KaiGaultHousingNavigator_07262022-qut-1.jpg\" alt='A Black woman wearing a black suit and glasses sits in front of a blue and red mural that reads \"Home\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57398_004_KQED_KaiGaultHousingNavigator_07262022-qut-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57398_004_KQED_KaiGaultHousingNavigator_07262022-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57398_004_KQED_KaiGaultHousingNavigator_07262022-qut-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57398_004_KQED_KaiGaultHousingNavigator_07262022-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57398_004_KQED_KaiGaultHousingNavigator_07262022-qut-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kai Gault, a housing navigator, sits outside of the Homeless Action Center in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“My experience with Roomkey, specifically, is that some of these sites are staffed by people who aren’t proficient in helping people with disabilities — mental or physical disabilities,” Gault says. “Sometimes they don’t understand how the system truly works. I’ve had to explain how the document gathering process works, which is a pretty fundamental part of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Thompson is working with Gault to get ready to move into permanent supportive housing. There’s an apartment designated for her, but it’s in a new building that’s not quite ready for her to move in yet, and Thompson is getting antsy. In the meantime, she’s moved from the Radisson to the Comfort Inn next door, a former Roomkey site now owned by the county through Project Homekey, a separate state-sponsored program that buys motels, hotels and office buildings to convert into long-term housing. But Thompson won’t be sticking around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m ready to get the hell out of here,” says Thompson, who, like other Roomkey residents, has complained about moldy walls and room doors with crowbar marks from forced entries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gault expects Thompson will be moving into her apartment this month.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“There are people getting housed. They are getting off the streets and that’s amazing, that’s very needed,” Gault says. “The devil’s in the details.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think overall, we did a really phenomenal job in housing as many people as we did,” says Vince Russo, who manages the Radisson for \u003ca href=\"https://www.abodeservices.org/\">Abode Services\u003c/a>, a housing nonprofit that’s run Roomkey sites around the Bay Area. “Could some of us use more empathy in working with others? Yes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Russo says staff turnover has been a challenge. People who weren’t performing were fired; others quit. A single case manager could be working with as many as 50 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of mid-July, there were still about 60 people living at the Radisson, and it’s up to Russo and his team to place them in a new home. Some residents will likely end up back on the street if they refuse what is offered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really going to be their choice,” Russo says. “If we say, ‘Look, these are the only two choices we have … where do you want to be? Do you want to go back to the street?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Impossible choices\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Currently, one in five people who’ve participated in Project Roomkey in Alameda County are either back on the streets or in a shelter, according to county data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That includes Michael Dailey and his family, who ended up at the Radisson this spring after getting bumped from one Roomkey hotel to another. They were given choices, but it wasn’t that simple.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They offered us three different places to live, all in East Oakland, really far away from our kids’ school,” Dailey says.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘It shouldn’t be on this mother-of-three to badger her case manager to find her housing.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Dailey and his wife, Danielle Desjardins, have two of their three kids enrolled in elementary school in Berkeley. Commuting from the Radisson in East Oakland, especially with high gas prices, made getting the kids to school a daily struggle. They knew living out there wouldn’t be sustainable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We couldn’t get them there,” Desjardins says. “We couldn’t get them to school and it made me feel like a really shitty mother that I couldn’t do a better job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They told the Radisson staff they were desperate to live closer to the school. But they felt trapped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I kept saying, ‘Can we just leave? Can we still get housing assistance if we go somewhere else?’” Desjardins says. “And they would tell us that we would be on our own and we wouldn’t get housing help.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11921213\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1199285776-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11921213 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1199285776-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a makeshift sign that says 'community' above a homeless encampment\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1199285776-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1199285776-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1199285776-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1199285776-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1199285776-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1199285776-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1199285776-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A community garden grows outside a homeless encampment in Oakland. According to county data, one in five people who have participated in Project Roomkey in Alameda County are either in a shelter or back on the streets. \u003ccite>(Philip Pacheco/AFP via Getty Images))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After almost two years bouncing between Roomkey sites in the East Bay, the family finally managed to get a Section 8 voucher for Berkeley with the help of a lawyer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that it’s taken them this long is really shocking,” says Brigitte Nicoletti, a lawyer with the East Bay Community Law Center who’s representing the family. “It shouldn’t be on this mother-of-three to badger her case manager to find her housing. It should be the other way around.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But before the family could find an apartment, they say they got kicked out of the Radisson. They’d been trying to build a tiny home in Berkeley and hadn’t been spending enough time at the hotel to keep their spot. The family stayed in their car, in their storage unit, and with Dailey’s mom in Lake County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We also don’t mind camping,” their seven-year-old daughter, Esme, pipes up. “Set up in a nice park, park our car outside and just camp. It doesn’t matter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At least you get to school on time every day, right?” Desjardins responds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Section 8 voucher doesn’t guarantee that they’ll find a place with a landlord who’ll embrace their family of five.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re in a scary time of changes and uncertainty,” Desjardins says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was updated to reflect that the Radisson closed at the end of July.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "taking-an-eviction-case-to-court-is-risky-but-this-mom-decided-to-try-it",
"title": "Taking an Eviction Case to Court Is Risky. But This Mom Decided to Try It",
"publishDate": 1659133832,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "Taking an Eviction Case to Court Is Risky. But This Mom Decided to Try It | KQED",
"labelTerm": {},
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The defendant, a dark-haired woman named Dahbia Benakli, watched nervously as the prosecutor took the stand one final time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The prosecutor, Steven Pinza, was defiant as he gave his closing statement. “If you don’t believe me,” he said to the jury, “one last thing. If you guys don’t believe me, let’s extend this trial.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The judge interrupted: “Mr. Pinza, your time is up. And no, we’re not extending the trial. The trial is going to be over.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was a scene straight out of any courtroom, except for one thing: This case was about an eviction lawsuit, a kind of proceeding that almost never goes before a jury in California. Benakli was a tenant, waiting to find out whether the court was going to evict her. Pinza was Benakli’s landlord, a local real estate investor and president of the Pinza Group, representing himself in an eviction lawsuit against her.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benakli’s case, unique as it was, also reveals what many tenants may be facing outside the public eye. More than two years after the beginning of the pandemic, evictions are on the rise. Many of the far-reaching emergency housing protections passed in 2020 have since expired, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101889929/as-pandemic-renter-protections-expire-wave-of-evictions-could-follow\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">leaving millions of renters facing eviction\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As new rules for California tenants and landlords vanish and the old rules return, Benakli’s case — and its aftermath — show the challenges renters face in charting their way through this moment of uncertainty and change.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11920845\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066457-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11920845\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066457-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A young girl in a lavender cotton shift with short sleeves stands at the end of a bed, leaning over and resting her torso on top of a folded pink blanket. Her brown hair is pulled back into a bun, with a fuzzy white band around it, and a pink clip on the side of her head. Light filters through a wide window covered with translucent white curtains that are patterned with rows of pink and grey roses and swirls. The quilt on her bed is white with pale flowers in pink and lavender. Two throw pillows in the same fabric are tossed against two white bed pillows at the head of the bed. The walls of the room are white. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066457-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066457-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066457-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066457-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066457-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066457-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Leah rests in the bedroom she shared with her mother and sister at their Walnut Creek apartment in November 2021. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/Special to KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Part 1: The notice\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was May 2021 when Steven Pinza bought the wide, gray apartment building where Dahbia Benakli had lived for 11 years.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benakli, a single mother and preschool teacher in Walnut Creek, didn’t think anything of the change in ownership at first. She said she had always had a good relationship with the previous management and wasn’t expecting anything different. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the time, she also had other priorities. Benakli was a single mom taking care of her two young daughters — Leah, 7, and Elina, 2 — by herself, juggling \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11898058/is-he-going-to-kick-us-to-the-street-a-walnut-creek-mom-fights-to-keep-her-apartment-amid-alleged-landlord-harassment\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a frantic job search and gig work during the pandemic, in a year-long scramble to pay her bills\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Then, later that month, the eviction notices began to arrive. Pinza told 11 of the building’s 18 tenants they needed to move out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If I was someone that’s not paying rent or just pay part, and he gets tired of that situation, I would understand,” Benakli told me. “But I’m someone that pays the full rent. I do nothing illegal.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benakli is one of a growing number of California residents facing eviction as millions of people across the state wrestle with the return of pre-pandemic housing laws.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size='small' citation='Dahbia Banakli']‘I want to move. I want to have two bedrooms. I want to have a backyard for my kids. I do want to have all that — but I cannot afford it right now.’[/pullquote]Between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/2022-Court-Statistics-Report.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">landlords filed nearly 4,000 eviction lawsuits across the Bay Area\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — more than 700 of them in Contra Costa County, where Benakli lives.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And the number of eviction lockouts in the Bay Area — that’s when sheriff’s deputies physically remove people who were evicted in court from their homes — rose from 184 in March-December 2020, to 349 during the same months of 2021, according to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/COVID-eviction-battles-have-moved-to-the-Bay-Area-16845195.php\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">an analysis by The San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the case of Benakli and her neighbors, Pinza was ordering them to move out because he claimed the building needed major renovations.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“While we wish these repairs were not necessary or could be done without you moving out, it is not possible,” he wrote in a letter to the tenants.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He gave tenants the option to relocate for two months at their own expense “while renovations are made,” then pay an additional $600 per month when they returned — a proposition Benakli could not afford.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11920822\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066646-scaled-e1659123208651.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11920822\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066646-scaled-e1659123208651-800x515.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"515\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066646-scaled-e1659123208651-800x515.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066646-scaled-e1659123208651-1020x657.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066646-scaled-e1659123208651-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066646-scaled-e1659123208651-1536x989.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066646-scaled-e1659123208651-2048x1318.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066646-scaled-e1659123208651-1920x1236.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Benakli hands her daughter Leah a cup of juice at their Walnut Creek apartment in November 2021. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/Special to KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She had lived in her one-bedroom apartment for 11 years, and her monthly rent was still only $1,000 — \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.zillow.com/rental-manager/market-trends/walnut-creek-ca/?propertyTypes=apartment-condo&bedrooms=1\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">less than half the market rate in Walnut Creek\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I want to move,” Benakli said. “I want to have two bedrooms. I want to have a backyard for my kids. I do want to have all that — but I cannot afford it right now.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Upon receiving the letters, most of the tenants moved out. But Benakli, DeCher Young and John Taylor decided to stay and wait for the landlord to file an eviction lawsuit.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I do understand he got this building and he wants to raise up the price,” Benakli said. “I do understand that he’s the new owner. I do understand he doesn’t know us. But he does not have the right to treat us less than a regular person.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Steven Pinza declined to speak on the record for this story.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Part 2: The lawsuit\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benakli and her neighbors thought they stood a chance of fighting Steven Pinza’s lawsuit in court, and in an unusual request, they wanted a jury to decide the case.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Experts say eviction cases almost never go to a jury trial. In roughly the first year of the pandemic, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/2022-Court-Statistics-Report.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">3,000 eviction cases went to trial and only 16 of them were decided by a jury\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"mceTemp\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11920832\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202204018493-scaled-e1659123268479.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11920832\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202204018493-scaled-e1659123268479-800x497.jpg\" alt=\"A man with rosy skin and silve-and-grey hair stands in a window looking out at the green leaves of a tree. Sunlight dapples his blue shirt. He wears slate green khaki pants and holds a grey zipped computer case under one arm. The window frames are dark wood.\" width=\"800\" height=\"497\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202204018493-scaled-e1659123268479-800x497.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202204018493-scaled-e1659123268479-1020x634.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202204018493-scaled-e1659123268479-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202204018493-scaled-e1659123268479-1536x955.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202204018493-scaled-e1659123268479-2048x1273.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202204018493-scaled-e1659123268479-1920x1194.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Housing attorney David Levin poses for a portrait in Berkeley on April 1, 2022. ‘We’re just seeing, now, some of the first cases that define the contours of law,’ he said. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/Special to KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But representing Benakli and her neighbors was David Levin, a Bay Area-based housing attorney, who saw cracks in the foundation of Pinza’s legal reasoning — specifically, two of them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to court filings, Pinza had initially sent eviction notices to tenants who were mostly Black, Algerian or other people of color. Of the eight tenants who had decided to move out voluntarily, seven had been replaced by white renters. Levin planned to make the case that the evictions were racially motivated.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">His second argument was that the repairs Pinza planned would not “substantially remodel” the building.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billCompareClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1482\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tenant Protection Act of 2019\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> gives landlords the right to remove their renters for a major remodel if the repairs are extensive enough that the renter has to move out for their own safety — for at least 30 days.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But what “substantially remodel” means is murky, according to multiple attorneys who specialize in housing cases, because the Tenant Protection Act has not been tested in court.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And to Levin, its vague language presented a potential foothold to challenge Pinza’s eviction lawsuit. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s hard to overstate how much was at stake for Benakli, Young and Taylor. If they lost, their eviction would be public in a court record, visible to any future landlord. Some tenants’ advocates call this the “scarlet E.” Families who are evicted also tend to lose their jobs or have to switch their children’s schools, and they report \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953617300102?via%3Dihub\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">higher rates of anxiety and depression\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11920899\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066717-scaled-e1659121725698.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11920899\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066717-scaled-e1659121725698-800x821.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with brown skin and dark brown hair leans down to clasp her daughter, age 7, to her chest with a smile. Her left arm encircles the child's head and her right arm encircles the child's back. The woman wears a white dress with an elaborate, brightly colored collar about the neck, coming down to end in a ruffle over her shoulders. The colors are red, orange, green, and yellow. The child is wearing a white shirt, and has her brown hair pulled into a bun. Her eyes closed, she wraps her arms around her mother.\" width=\"800\" height=\"821\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066717-scaled-e1659121725698-800x821.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066717-scaled-e1659121725698-1020x1047.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066717-scaled-e1659121725698-160x164.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066717-scaled-e1659121725698-1497x1536.jpg 1497w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066717-scaled-e1659121725698.jpg 1708w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Benakli and Leah embrace at their former apartment in Walnut Creek in November 2021. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/Special to KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Somehow, though, Benakli wasn’t nervous. She had faith that the courts would hear their concerns and would find in their favor.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“He wants to take it to the court?” she said. “That’s my dream. I want to go to the court with him. Because I know the truth will always win in the end.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Part 3: The trial\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The trial began at the end of February in the Superior Court for Contra Costa County, a tall, gray, downtown building in the sleepy Bay Area suburb of Martinez.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before he could use a particular argument in front of the jury, Levin had to convince Judge Danielle Douglas of it: that Pinza had shown a pattern of discrimination by evicting mostly tenants of color and bringing in white renters to replace them. But Douglas tossed it out, saying Levin couldn’t prove Pinza \u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">intended \u003c/i>to discriminate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As the jurors arrived the next day, Benakli, in a black shirt with pink flowers, sat with her neighbors in the front row of the courtroom. Levin, in a dark suit, sat between them and the judge like a shield, with a rolling bin full of legal papers on the floor next to him. To his left, at the prosecutor’s table, sat Pinza in a crisp suit of light gray. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pinza, who had elected to represent himself, argued that his plans to renovate the apartments \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span> which included adjustments to the plumbing and electrical systems and installing new stoves, dishwashers and ceiling fans \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span> were extensive. He said his expert witnesses would demonstrate that the scale of these renovations did justify evicting Benakli and her neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='small' citation='Judge Danielle Douglas, Contra Costa County Superior Court']‘Mr. Pinza. Mr. Pinza. Let the witness answer the question.’[/pullquote]Levin said his expert witnesses would show that Pinza’s plans for the apartments were minor and would not have required the tenants to move out. There was an ulterior motive at work, he argued: Kicking out Benakli and her neighbors would allow Pinza to raise the rent for their units substantially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pinza interrupted the witnesses frequently, prompting Judge Douglas to step in and reprimand him for breaking courtroom rules.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s just the bathroom,” Benakli said, in answer to a question from Pinza. “The floor is popping out a little bit.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pinza interrupted: “Oh, so there is damage to the bathroom. OK, so maybe your floors do need to be repaired. Good enough.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Mr. Pinza,” Judge Douglas said sharply. “Mr. Pinza. Let the witness answer the question.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On the way back to my car at the end of the third day, I ran into Benakli and one of the other tenants, DeCher Young. They were leaning over the railing on the top floor of the parking lot. Dahbia was smoking a cigarette — she said she’d just started smoking again. They didn’t seem worried. Not that they were confident, simply resigned to whatever was going to happen.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The next afternoon, Pinza gave a defiant closing statement, reiterating that his expert witness had done “thousands of remodels.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“So who do you believe?” Pinza asked the jury. “[Levin’s] guy? Who’s never been a contractor? He’s done as much construction work as I have, and that’s not a lot.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Levin spoke next, using his time to focus on the key question. “This whole case comes down to the time that a substantial remodel will take,” he said. “So now it’s your job to figure out where this line is in this case, based on the law and the facts.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After two hours of jury deliberation, Judge Douglas called everyone back into the courtroom. The clerk read the verdict: 11 to 1, in Pinza’s favor.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benakli and her neighbors had lost. They were going to be evicted.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11920855\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031817-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11920855\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031817-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"The image is from the back seat of the car, looking through the windshield at a blurred foreground of an apartment building on the right and the brake lights of the car in front of them, the red reflection casting pink light inside the car and on the auburn hair of the driver. The driver wears a white shirt with small dark polka dots and a ruffle at the shoulder over the long sleeves. The woman in the passenger seat has short dark hair and her arm, in a black sweater, rests on the back of the driver. A scented pine tree hangs from the rear view mirror. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031817-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031817-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031817-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031817-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031817-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031817-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">DeCher Young rests her hand on Benakli’s shoulder as they drive home from the trial through Walnut Creek on March 3, 2022. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/Special to KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Part 4: The way home\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That evening, Benakli and Young drove back to Walnut Creek together to pick up Benakli’s daughter from school. They let me ride with them in the back seat.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benakli and Young were shaken. As they drove, they talked about how the trial had gone and what losing meant — court fees and having the eviction on their record.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I don’t think I’m going to go to sleep tonight, looking for an apartment,” Benakli said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“When, when I get home, I’m going to start looking for places,” Young said. “After I finish looking, then I’m gonna start dashing for a little bit to get my extra money on the side,” she added, referring to her side job driving for DoorDash.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I can’t dash tonight,” Benakli said. “There’s just no way.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As Benakli drove through downtown Walnut Creek, they stopped at a red light and Young looked out the window.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I’mma miss living over here, I really am,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“That’s so true, girl,” Benakli said. “So true.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11920904\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202205221790-1-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11920904\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202205221790-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A view from high in the forested hills over the Bay Area. In the foreground are rolling hills covered with oak and pine, with a few mansions visible in nooks and crannies of the canyons. In the middle of the photo is a wide urban spread o, with the bay in the distance on the right of the image, and the Bay Bridge a faint line across. Above the urban landscape are bluish hills in the distance and a line of orange and yellow light on the horizon as the sun rises into a pale blue sky.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202205221790-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202205221790-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202205221790-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202205221790-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202205221790-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202205221790-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The East Bay, from an overlook along Grizzly Peak Boulevard in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/Special to KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>What happened in this case, housing experts say, is part of a pattern of gentrification and displacement in the Bay Area that stretches back to long before the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benakli and Young both used to live in cities like Berkeley and Oakland and San Francisco, which have stronger protections for renters. Eventually, though, like many of those in lower- and middle-income households — disproportionately Black and brown — they saw their rent and other costs rise too high and left for Walnut Creek, where rent was lower, but there were also fewer protections.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s a general story about inequality in America,” said Tim Thomas, research director at the \u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://www.urbandisplacement.org/team/tim-thomas-ph-d/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.urbandisplacement.org/team/tim-thomas-ph-d/\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" data-remove-tab-index=\"true\">Urban Displacement Project\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some parts of California are working to clarify how substantial remodel evictions work, by requiring landlords to help pay relocation costs, for example. State lawmakers are considering a bill requiring landlords to get local government permits before they can issue substantial remodel eviction notices. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Back in Walnut Creek, Benakli and Young arrived at the school of Benakli’s daughter, Leah. Young waited in the car while Benakli went inside. Minutes later, Leah clambered into the back seat.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I lost a tooth today in school, and I got this from the office,” she said to me, holding up a small, plastic, tooth-shaped container.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11920884\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031814-scaled-e1659122908973.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11920884\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031814-scaled-e1659122908973-800x482.jpg\" alt=\"A young girl's hands in the center of the photo hold a white plastic box shaped like a molar. Only her hands and the tooth box are in focus. Her purple jacket and pink and purple pants are blurred, and the car door on the other side of her is dark with white reflections\" width=\"800\" height=\"482\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031814-scaled-e1659122908973-800x482.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031814-scaled-e1659122908973-1020x614.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031814-scaled-e1659122908973-160x96.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031814-scaled-e1659122908973-1536x925.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031814-scaled-e1659122908973-2048x1234.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031814-scaled-e1659122908973-1920x1157.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Leah shows me her tooth box as Benakli and Young drive home from the trial on March 3, 2022. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/Special to KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Benakli and Young drove home, talking about going up to Concord to look at apartments later that week. As they spoke, Leah told me about the money she was going to get from the tooth fairy and her plans to buy her sister, Elina, a present.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I think I will get her a puppy,” she said. “A toy puppy set.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was a moment of extreme contrast: a kid being a kid in the back seat, while adult conversations went on in the background. It was also a reminder of who this could fall on the most — and who, years from now, might look back on this as a moment that changed everything.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Epilogue\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the months since their case ended in mid-March, Benakli, Young and their third neighbor, John Taylor, have all moved out.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It was maybe one of the darkest moments in my life,” Benakli said of the days after the case ended, in a recent interview.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A few days after the case ended, she received an email from her attorney, who said Pinza was asking for back rent and court fees — several thousand dollars.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benakli panicked. She packed what she could, grabbed her two daughters, and left for a motel in Walnut Creek. She tried to disguise the move for the kids, offering them Starbucks for breakfast as a special treat, but she knew they could tell something was wrong.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I was asking myself questions,” she said. “Am I a good mom? Am I a good person? What did I do wrong?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They were at the motel for three days. Benakli spent the entire time trying to figure out what to do next.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Eventually she got in touch with a friend of a friend who had already applied for a lease and needed a roommate, meaning Benakli didn’t have to worry about the eviction on her record.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She was nervous about the thought of moving her family in with some strange man she didn’t know. But she didn’t have much of a choice.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Two weeks after Benakli had left her apartment in the dead of night, she and her daughters moved into their new unit, and slowly, a bit of their stress faded.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s just like we’re right back home,” Benakli said. And on top of that, their new roommate was kind and caring.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She knows the repercussions of the case — the “scarlet E” on her record and the money Pinza was asking for — are going to follow her for a long time, although her attorney says the real amount she will have to pay is still uncertain.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benakli has lost a lot of faith in the court and other government institutions. As all of this was happening, she says, she would receive calls from canvassers trying to get her to register to vote.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I don’t want to vote,” Benakli said. “There’s no laws protecting me. Nothing is protecting me.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Benakli’s eyes, the only people who were really able to help her were her friends and her family. At the end of the day, she said, that’s all some of us really have.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">\u003ca href=\"https://mobile.twitter.com/koritsuzuki\">Kori Suzuki \u003c/a>produced this story for a class at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The defendant, a dark-haired woman named Dahbia Benakli, watched nervously as the prosecutor took the stand one final time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The prosecutor, Steven Pinza, was defiant as he gave his closing statement. “If you don’t believe me,” he said to the jury, “one last thing. If you guys don’t believe me, let’s extend this trial.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The judge interrupted: “Mr. Pinza, your time is up. And no, we’re not extending the trial. The trial is going to be over.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was a scene straight out of any courtroom, except for one thing: This case was about an eviction lawsuit, a kind of proceeding that almost never goes before a jury in California. Benakli was a tenant, waiting to find out whether the court was going to evict her. Pinza was Benakli’s landlord, a local real estate investor and president of the Pinza Group, representing himself in an eviction lawsuit against her.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benakli’s case, unique as it was, also reveals what many tenants may be facing outside the public eye. More than two years after the beginning of the pandemic, evictions are on the rise. Many of the far-reaching emergency housing protections passed in 2020 have since expired, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101889929/as-pandemic-renter-protections-expire-wave-of-evictions-could-follow\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">leaving millions of renters facing eviction\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As new rules for California tenants and landlords vanish and the old rules return, Benakli’s case — and its aftermath — show the challenges renters face in charting their way through this moment of uncertainty and change.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11920845\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066457-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11920845\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066457-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A young girl in a lavender cotton shift with short sleeves stands at the end of a bed, leaning over and resting her torso on top of a folded pink blanket. Her brown hair is pulled back into a bun, with a fuzzy white band around it, and a pink clip on the side of her head. Light filters through a wide window covered with translucent white curtains that are patterned with rows of pink and grey roses and swirls. The quilt on her bed is white with pale flowers in pink and lavender. Two throw pillows in the same fabric are tossed against two white bed pillows at the head of the bed. The walls of the room are white. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066457-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066457-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066457-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066457-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066457-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066457-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Leah rests in the bedroom she shared with her mother and sister at their Walnut Creek apartment in November 2021. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/Special to KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Part 1: The notice\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was May 2021 when Steven Pinza bought the wide, gray apartment building where Dahbia Benakli had lived for 11 years.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benakli, a single mother and preschool teacher in Walnut Creek, didn’t think anything of the change in ownership at first. She said she had always had a good relationship with the previous management and wasn’t expecting anything different. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the time, she also had other priorities. Benakli was a single mom taking care of her two young daughters — Leah, 7, and Elina, 2 — by herself, juggling \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11898058/is-he-going-to-kick-us-to-the-street-a-walnut-creek-mom-fights-to-keep-her-apartment-amid-alleged-landlord-harassment\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a frantic job search and gig work during the pandemic, in a year-long scramble to pay her bills\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Then, later that month, the eviction notices began to arrive. Pinza told 11 of the building’s 18 tenants they needed to move out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If I was someone that’s not paying rent or just pay part, and he gets tired of that situation, I would understand,” Benakli told me. “But I’m someone that pays the full rent. I do nothing illegal.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benakli is one of a growing number of California residents facing eviction as millions of people across the state wrestle with the return of pre-pandemic housing laws.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I want to move. I want to have two bedrooms. I want to have a backyard for my kids. I do want to have all that — but I cannot afford it right now.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/2022-Court-Statistics-Report.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">landlords filed nearly 4,000 eviction lawsuits across the Bay Area\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — more than 700 of them in Contra Costa County, where Benakli lives.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And the number of eviction lockouts in the Bay Area — that’s when sheriff’s deputies physically remove people who were evicted in court from their homes — rose from 184 in March-December 2020, to 349 during the same months of 2021, according to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/COVID-eviction-battles-have-moved-to-the-Bay-Area-16845195.php\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">an analysis by The San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the case of Benakli and her neighbors, Pinza was ordering them to move out because he claimed the building needed major renovations.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“While we wish these repairs were not necessary or could be done without you moving out, it is not possible,” he wrote in a letter to the tenants.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He gave tenants the option to relocate for two months at their own expense “while renovations are made,” then pay an additional $600 per month when they returned — a proposition Benakli could not afford.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11920822\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066646-scaled-e1659123208651.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11920822\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066646-scaled-e1659123208651-800x515.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"515\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066646-scaled-e1659123208651-800x515.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066646-scaled-e1659123208651-1020x657.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066646-scaled-e1659123208651-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066646-scaled-e1659123208651-1536x989.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066646-scaled-e1659123208651-2048x1318.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066646-scaled-e1659123208651-1920x1236.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Benakli hands her daughter Leah a cup of juice at their Walnut Creek apartment in November 2021. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/Special to KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She had lived in her one-bedroom apartment for 11 years, and her monthly rent was still only $1,000 — \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.zillow.com/rental-manager/market-trends/walnut-creek-ca/?propertyTypes=apartment-condo&bedrooms=1\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">less than half the market rate in Walnut Creek\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I want to move,” Benakli said. “I want to have two bedrooms. I want to have a backyard for my kids. I do want to have all that — but I cannot afford it right now.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Upon receiving the letters, most of the tenants moved out. But Benakli, DeCher Young and John Taylor decided to stay and wait for the landlord to file an eviction lawsuit.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I do understand he got this building and he wants to raise up the price,” Benakli said. “I do understand that he’s the new owner. I do understand he doesn’t know us. But he does not have the right to treat us less than a regular person.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Steven Pinza declined to speak on the record for this story.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Part 2: The lawsuit\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benakli and her neighbors thought they stood a chance of fighting Steven Pinza’s lawsuit in court, and in an unusual request, they wanted a jury to decide the case.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Experts say eviction cases almost never go to a jury trial. In roughly the first year of the pandemic, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/2022-Court-Statistics-Report.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">3,000 eviction cases went to trial and only 16 of them were decided by a jury\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"mceTemp\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11920832\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202204018493-scaled-e1659123268479.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11920832\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202204018493-scaled-e1659123268479-800x497.jpg\" alt=\"A man with rosy skin and silve-and-grey hair stands in a window looking out at the green leaves of a tree. Sunlight dapples his blue shirt. He wears slate green khaki pants and holds a grey zipped computer case under one arm. The window frames are dark wood.\" width=\"800\" height=\"497\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202204018493-scaled-e1659123268479-800x497.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202204018493-scaled-e1659123268479-1020x634.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202204018493-scaled-e1659123268479-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202204018493-scaled-e1659123268479-1536x955.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202204018493-scaled-e1659123268479-2048x1273.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202204018493-scaled-e1659123268479-1920x1194.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Housing attorney David Levin poses for a portrait in Berkeley on April 1, 2022. ‘We’re just seeing, now, some of the first cases that define the contours of law,’ he said. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/Special to KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But representing Benakli and her neighbors was David Levin, a Bay Area-based housing attorney, who saw cracks in the foundation of Pinza’s legal reasoning — specifically, two of them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to court filings, Pinza had initially sent eviction notices to tenants who were mostly Black, Algerian or other people of color. Of the eight tenants who had decided to move out voluntarily, seven had been replaced by white renters. Levin planned to make the case that the evictions were racially motivated.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">His second argument was that the repairs Pinza planned would not “substantially remodel” the building.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billCompareClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1482\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tenant Protection Act of 2019\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> gives landlords the right to remove their renters for a major remodel if the repairs are extensive enough that the renter has to move out for their own safety — for at least 30 days.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But what “substantially remodel” means is murky, according to multiple attorneys who specialize in housing cases, because the Tenant Protection Act has not been tested in court.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And to Levin, its vague language presented a potential foothold to challenge Pinza’s eviction lawsuit. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s hard to overstate how much was at stake for Benakli, Young and Taylor. If they lost, their eviction would be public in a court record, visible to any future landlord. Some tenants’ advocates call this the “scarlet E.” Families who are evicted also tend to lose their jobs or have to switch their children’s schools, and they report \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953617300102?via%3Dihub\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">higher rates of anxiety and depression\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11920899\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066717-scaled-e1659121725698.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11920899\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066717-scaled-e1659121725698-800x821.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with brown skin and dark brown hair leans down to clasp her daughter, age 7, to her chest with a smile. Her left arm encircles the child's head and her right arm encircles the child's back. The woman wears a white dress with an elaborate, brightly colored collar about the neck, coming down to end in a ruffle over her shoulders. The colors are red, orange, green, and yellow. The child is wearing a white shirt, and has her brown hair pulled into a bun. Her eyes closed, she wraps her arms around her mother.\" width=\"800\" height=\"821\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066717-scaled-e1659121725698-800x821.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066717-scaled-e1659121725698-1020x1047.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066717-scaled-e1659121725698-160x164.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066717-scaled-e1659121725698-1497x1536.jpg 1497w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202111066717-scaled-e1659121725698.jpg 1708w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Benakli and Leah embrace at their former apartment in Walnut Creek in November 2021. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/Special to KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Somehow, though, Benakli wasn’t nervous. She had faith that the courts would hear their concerns and would find in their favor.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“He wants to take it to the court?” she said. “That’s my dream. I want to go to the court with him. Because I know the truth will always win in the end.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Part 3: The trial\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The trial began at the end of February in the Superior Court for Contra Costa County, a tall, gray, downtown building in the sleepy Bay Area suburb of Martinez.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before he could use a particular argument in front of the jury, Levin had to convince Judge Danielle Douglas of it: that Pinza had shown a pattern of discrimination by evicting mostly tenants of color and bringing in white renters to replace them. But Douglas tossed it out, saying Levin couldn’t prove Pinza \u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">intended \u003c/i>to discriminate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As the jurors arrived the next day, Benakli, in a black shirt with pink flowers, sat with her neighbors in the front row of the courtroom. Levin, in a dark suit, sat between them and the judge like a shield, with a rolling bin full of legal papers on the floor next to him. To his left, at the prosecutor’s table, sat Pinza in a crisp suit of light gray. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pinza, who had elected to represent himself, argued that his plans to renovate the apartments \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span> which included adjustments to the plumbing and electrical systems and installing new stoves, dishwashers and ceiling fans \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span> were extensive. He said his expert witnesses would demonstrate that the scale of these renovations did justify evicting Benakli and her neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Mr. Pinza. Mr. Pinza. Let the witness answer the question.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Levin said his expert witnesses would show that Pinza’s plans for the apartments were minor and would not have required the tenants to move out. There was an ulterior motive at work, he argued: Kicking out Benakli and her neighbors would allow Pinza to raise the rent for their units substantially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pinza interrupted the witnesses frequently, prompting Judge Douglas to step in and reprimand him for breaking courtroom rules.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s just the bathroom,” Benakli said, in answer to a question from Pinza. “The floor is popping out a little bit.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pinza interrupted: “Oh, so there is damage to the bathroom. OK, so maybe your floors do need to be repaired. Good enough.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Mr. Pinza,” Judge Douglas said sharply. “Mr. Pinza. Let the witness answer the question.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On the way back to my car at the end of the third day, I ran into Benakli and one of the other tenants, DeCher Young. They were leaning over the railing on the top floor of the parking lot. Dahbia was smoking a cigarette — she said she’d just started smoking again. They didn’t seem worried. Not that they were confident, simply resigned to whatever was going to happen.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The next afternoon, Pinza gave a defiant closing statement, reiterating that his expert witness had done “thousands of remodels.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“So who do you believe?” Pinza asked the jury. “[Levin’s] guy? Who’s never been a contractor? He’s done as much construction work as I have, and that’s not a lot.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Levin spoke next, using his time to focus on the key question. “This whole case comes down to the time that a substantial remodel will take,” he said. “So now it’s your job to figure out where this line is in this case, based on the law and the facts.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After two hours of jury deliberation, Judge Douglas called everyone back into the courtroom. The clerk read the verdict: 11 to 1, in Pinza’s favor.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benakli and her neighbors had lost. They were going to be evicted.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11920855\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031817-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11920855\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031817-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"The image is from the back seat of the car, looking through the windshield at a blurred foreground of an apartment building on the right and the brake lights of the car in front of them, the red reflection casting pink light inside the car and on the auburn hair of the driver. The driver wears a white shirt with small dark polka dots and a ruffle at the shoulder over the long sleeves. The woman in the passenger seat has short dark hair and her arm, in a black sweater, rests on the back of the driver. A scented pine tree hangs from the rear view mirror. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031817-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031817-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031817-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031817-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031817-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031817-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">DeCher Young rests her hand on Benakli’s shoulder as they drive home from the trial through Walnut Creek on March 3, 2022. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/Special to KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Part 4: The way home\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That evening, Benakli and Young drove back to Walnut Creek together to pick up Benakli’s daughter from school. They let me ride with them in the back seat.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benakli and Young were shaken. As they drove, they talked about how the trial had gone and what losing meant — court fees and having the eviction on their record.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I don’t think I’m going to go to sleep tonight, looking for an apartment,” Benakli said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“When, when I get home, I’m going to start looking for places,” Young said. “After I finish looking, then I’m gonna start dashing for a little bit to get my extra money on the side,” she added, referring to her side job driving for DoorDash.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I can’t dash tonight,” Benakli said. “There’s just no way.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As Benakli drove through downtown Walnut Creek, they stopped at a red light and Young looked out the window.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I’mma miss living over here, I really am,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“That’s so true, girl,” Benakli said. “So true.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11920904\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202205221790-1-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11920904\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202205221790-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A view from high in the forested hills over the Bay Area. In the foreground are rolling hills covered with oak and pine, with a few mansions visible in nooks and crannies of the canyons. In the middle of the photo is a wide urban spread o, with the bay in the distance on the right of the image, and the Bay Bridge a faint line across. Above the urban landscape are bluish hills in the distance and a line of orange and yellow light on the horizon as the sun rises into a pale blue sky.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202205221790-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202205221790-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202205221790-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202205221790-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202205221790-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202205221790-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The East Bay, from an overlook along Grizzly Peak Boulevard in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/Special to KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>What happened in this case, housing experts say, is part of a pattern of gentrification and displacement in the Bay Area that stretches back to long before the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benakli and Young both used to live in cities like Berkeley and Oakland and San Francisco, which have stronger protections for renters. Eventually, though, like many of those in lower- and middle-income households — disproportionately Black and brown — they saw their rent and other costs rise too high and left for Walnut Creek, where rent was lower, but there were also fewer protections.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s a general story about inequality in America,” said Tim Thomas, research director at the \u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://www.urbandisplacement.org/team/tim-thomas-ph-d/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.urbandisplacement.org/team/tim-thomas-ph-d/\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" data-remove-tab-index=\"true\">Urban Displacement Project\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some parts of California are working to clarify how substantial remodel evictions work, by requiring landlords to help pay relocation costs, for example. State lawmakers are considering a bill requiring landlords to get local government permits before they can issue substantial remodel eviction notices. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Back in Walnut Creek, Benakli and Young arrived at the school of Benakli’s daughter, Leah. Young waited in the car while Benakli went inside. Minutes later, Leah clambered into the back seat.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I lost a tooth today in school, and I got this from the office,” she said to me, holding up a small, plastic, tooth-shaped container.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11920884\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031814-scaled-e1659122908973.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11920884\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031814-scaled-e1659122908973-800x482.jpg\" alt=\"A young girl's hands in the center of the photo hold a white plastic box shaped like a molar. Only her hands and the tooth box are in focus. Her purple jacket and pink and purple pants are blurred, and the car door on the other side of her is dark with white reflections\" width=\"800\" height=\"482\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031814-scaled-e1659122908973-800x482.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031814-scaled-e1659122908973-1020x614.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031814-scaled-e1659122908973-160x96.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031814-scaled-e1659122908973-1536x925.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031814-scaled-e1659122908973-2048x1234.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/ksuzuki202203031814-scaled-e1659122908973-1920x1157.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Leah shows me her tooth box as Benakli and Young drive home from the trial on March 3, 2022. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/Special to KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Benakli and Young drove home, talking about going up to Concord to look at apartments later that week. As they spoke, Leah told me about the money she was going to get from the tooth fairy and her plans to buy her sister, Elina, a present.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I think I will get her a puppy,” she said. “A toy puppy set.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was a moment of extreme contrast: a kid being a kid in the back seat, while adult conversations went on in the background. It was also a reminder of who this could fall on the most — and who, years from now, might look back on this as a moment that changed everything.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Epilogue\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the months since their case ended in mid-March, Benakli, Young and their third neighbor, John Taylor, have all moved out.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It was maybe one of the darkest moments in my life,” Benakli said of the days after the case ended, in a recent interview.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A few days after the case ended, she received an email from her attorney, who said Pinza was asking for back rent and court fees — several thousand dollars.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benakli panicked. She packed what she could, grabbed her two daughters, and left for a motel in Walnut Creek. She tried to disguise the move for the kids, offering them Starbucks for breakfast as a special treat, but she knew they could tell something was wrong.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I was asking myself questions,” she said. “Am I a good mom? Am I a good person? What did I do wrong?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They were at the motel for three days. Benakli spent the entire time trying to figure out what to do next.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Eventually she got in touch with a friend of a friend who had already applied for a lease and needed a roommate, meaning Benakli didn’t have to worry about the eviction on her record.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She was nervous about the thought of moving her family in with some strange man she didn’t know. But she didn’t have much of a choice.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Two weeks after Benakli had left her apartment in the dead of night, she and her daughters moved into their new unit, and slowly, a bit of their stress faded.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s just like we’re right back home,” Benakli said. And on top of that, their new roommate was kind and caring.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She knows the repercussions of the case — the “scarlet E” on her record and the money Pinza was asking for — are going to follow her for a long time, although her attorney says the real amount she will have to pay is still uncertain.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benakli has lost a lot of faith in the court and other government institutions. As all of this was happening, she says, she would receive calls from canvassers trying to get her to register to vote.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I don’t want to vote,” Benakli said. “There’s no laws protecting me. Nothing is protecting me.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Benakli’s eyes, the only people who were really able to help her were her friends and her family. At the end of the day, she said, that’s all some of us really have.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">\u003ca href=\"https://mobile.twitter.com/koritsuzuki\">Kori Suzuki \u003c/a>produced this story for a class at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Residents at Oakland’s largest encampment of unhoused people got a reprieve Tuesday after a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order, blocking a state agency from evicting them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caltrans had planned on Wednesday to remove many of the estimated 200 people who live at the sprawling Wood Street encampment, which stretches from north of 34th Street to 18th Street underneath the I-880 freeway, between Wood Street and the BNSF and Union Pacific railroad tracks in West Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The land is partially owned by Caltrans while the city of Oakland, BNSF and private owners control other parcels that residents currently occupy.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Sasha Huckaby, Wood Street encampment resident\"]‘Here, I help out with legal stuff, or with food stamps or help someone get Narcan. So many different things. It’s like I have a reason to continue.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his order, District Judge William Orrick cited the tight timeline that Wood Street residents were given as grounds to issue the order without delay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because of the abrupt timeline on which notice appears to have been given to the plaintiffs and the imminence of the closure, this temporary restraining order (TRO) will issue without notice,” he wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caltrans crews have been working since May 2021 to clean up parts of its land, according to Caltrans spokesperson Janis Mara. But \u003ca href=\"https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/caltrans-to-shut-down-sprawling-oakland-encampment-where-fire-started-monday/\">the agency announced July 15\u003c/a> that it would begin closing the rest of the encampment on July 20, with work expected to last until the first week of August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many people living at Wood Street said on Tuesday that there wasn’t adequate time to remove their belongings from the area, and that they planned to fight the eviction, restraining order or no.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11919957\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57334_015_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11919957\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57334_015_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A woman works in a garden in an encampment.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57334_015_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57334_015_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57334_015_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57334_015_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57334_015_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sasha Huckaby, 28, pulls weeds from a garden at the Wood Street encampment in West Oakland on Tuesday, July 19, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re planning on staying here,” said Sasha Huckaby, 28, who lives within the Wood Street encampment at one of the structures built by residents and a local nonprofit, \u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/04/30/homeless-oaklanders-bring-hot-showers-medical-care-and-a-pizza-oven-to-their-encampment/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/04/30/homeless-oaklanders-bring-hot-showers-medical-care-and-a-pizza-oven-to-their-encampment/\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" data-remove-tab-index=\"true\">Cob on Wood\u003c/a>. The small cabins were built in late 2020 and early 2021 out of a mixture of earth, sand, straw and recycled materials. “We’re planning on refusing to go.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huckaby moved into Wood Street in 2016, when life at the encampment was a lot more chaotic, she said. But, as she began to build friendships with her neighbors, she found a larger purpose for her life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It made me get some sort of responsibility, compared to just being out there, just randomly doing what I want to do,” she said. “Here, I help out with legal stuff, or with food stamps or help someone get Narcan. So many different things. It’s like I have a reason to continue.”[aside postID=\"news_11906661,news_11894774\" label=\"Related Posts\"]She has no idea where she will go if Caltrans is successful in evicting her. It was a sentiment shared by many of the residents living at Wood Street. Caltrans officials said the agency has been coordinating with the city of Oakland and Alameda County to provide residents access to shelter beds, but many residents said they have never received offers for alternative shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They didn’t offer us anything at all,” said Jessica Huffman, 42.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huffman lives on BNSF land near an unused railroad trestle. She lost the vehicle where she had been living for the past three years in a \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2022/07/11/west-oakland-fire-spews-smoke-over-the-east-bay-wood-street/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fire that broke out on July 11\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caltrans officials cited the fire as a reason to accelerate its plans to remove the residents and their belongings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The department is taking this action to address the increasingly serious safety risks to life, property and infrastructure at the encampment,” Caltrans officials said in the July 15 statement, “including from the fire [on July 11] that prompted the closure of the MacArthur Maze.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11919960\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57341_027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11919960\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57341_027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A sign says, 'Housing is a Human Right' at an encampment under a highway overpass.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57341_027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57341_027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57341_027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57341_027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57341_027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Cob on Wood garden at the Wood Street encampment in West Oakland on Tuesday, July 19, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, Caltrans crews were out, removing cars and other debris and placing notices on RVs, trailers, shipping containers and other structures, warning of imminent removal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tenant organizer Delphine Brody, who has been working with Wood Street residents for the past 18 months, said the timing was difficult for many residents — not only because of the abrupt notice given, but also because of surging COVID infections among camp residents and organizers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For Caltrans and the [California Highway Patrol] to choose this time is unthinkable,” Brody said. “We’re seeing what looks like the beginning of a surge now with the BA.5 subvariant, which seems to be affecting residents here as well. … We have residents who are falling ill with symptoms of COVID.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the residents said they had no idea where to go, but that it would likely be to disperse to other encampments on public land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have to play whack-a-mole,” said Wood Street resident Theo Cedar Jones, 59. “They squeeze us out of one area, we squeeze into another.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11919959\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57337_023_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11919959\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57337_023_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A person stands in a container looking at pieces of metal.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57337_023_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57337_023_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57337_023_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57337_023_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57337_023_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ramona Choyce, 44, sorts metal to sell at the Wood Street encampment in West Oakland on Tuesday, July 19, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The city of \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/02/24/governor-newsom-awards-50-million-to-local-communities-to-tackle-encampments/\">Oakland received $4.7 million\u003c/a> from the state’s Encampment Resolution Funding Program, specifically to clear its portion of the Wood Street encampment, said Karen Boyd, a spokesperson for the city. It’s already begun its cleanup of the land it owns at West Grand and 26th Street in preparation for a housing development for up to 100 formerly unhoused people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To move that project, the city must clear this street while continuing conversations with this community on the design of the program,” Boyd said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Wood Street resident Matthew Schatzinger, 45, isn’t optimistic he’ll be able to live in whatever new housing is being built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The consideration is not for the people that are here now,” Schatzinger said. “It’s for people in the future who might want housing. … And we are not those people. We’re being displaced for a solution that’s not for us.”[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"left\" citation=\"Matthew Schatzinger, Wood Street encampment resident\"]‘We’re being displaced for a solution that’s not for us.’[/pullquote]Outreach teams had reached out to at least a dozen people on Oakland’s portion of the site. Six accepted offers of shelter, Boyd said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A hearing on the temporary restraining order is scheduled for Friday, July 22, at 10 a.m. The judge will decide whether to keep the order in place or allow Caltrans to move forward with its plans to remove residents from the site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The order allows Caltrans to remove debris, as long as it’s not related to the planned closure of the encampment. Caltrans spokesperson Mara said crews will continue work there but the encampment closure will not move forward, for now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his order, District Judge William Orrick cited the tight timeline that Wood Street residents were given as grounds to issue the order without delay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because of the abrupt timeline on which notice appears to have been given to the plaintiffs and the imminence of the closure, this temporary restraining order (TRO) will issue without notice,” he wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caltrans crews have been working since May 2021 to clean up parts of its land, according to Caltrans spokesperson Janis Mara. But \u003ca href=\"https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/caltrans-to-shut-down-sprawling-oakland-encampment-where-fire-started-monday/\">the agency announced July 15\u003c/a> that it would begin closing the rest of the encampment on July 20, with work expected to last until the first week of August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many people living at Wood Street said on Tuesday that there wasn’t adequate time to remove their belongings from the area, and that they planned to fight the eviction, restraining order or no.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11919957\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57334_015_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11919957\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57334_015_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A woman works in a garden in an encampment.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57334_015_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57334_015_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57334_015_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57334_015_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57334_015_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sasha Huckaby, 28, pulls weeds from a garden at the Wood Street encampment in West Oakland on Tuesday, July 19, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re planning on staying here,” said Sasha Huckaby, 28, who lives within the Wood Street encampment at one of the structures built by residents and a local nonprofit, \u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/04/30/homeless-oaklanders-bring-hot-showers-medical-care-and-a-pizza-oven-to-their-encampment/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/04/30/homeless-oaklanders-bring-hot-showers-medical-care-and-a-pizza-oven-to-their-encampment/\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" data-remove-tab-index=\"true\">Cob on Wood\u003c/a>. The small cabins were built in late 2020 and early 2021 out of a mixture of earth, sand, straw and recycled materials. “We’re planning on refusing to go.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huckaby moved into Wood Street in 2016, when life at the encampment was a lot more chaotic, she said. But, as she began to build friendships with her neighbors, she found a larger purpose for her life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It made me get some sort of responsibility, compared to just being out there, just randomly doing what I want to do,” she said. “Here, I help out with legal stuff, or with food stamps or help someone get Narcan. So many different things. It’s like I have a reason to continue.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>She has no idea where she will go if Caltrans is successful in evicting her. It was a sentiment shared by many of the residents living at Wood Street. Caltrans officials said the agency has been coordinating with the city of Oakland and Alameda County to provide residents access to shelter beds, but many residents said they have never received offers for alternative shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They didn’t offer us anything at all,” said Jessica Huffman, 42.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huffman lives on BNSF land near an unused railroad trestle. She lost the vehicle where she had been living for the past three years in a \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2022/07/11/west-oakland-fire-spews-smoke-over-the-east-bay-wood-street/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fire that broke out on July 11\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caltrans officials cited the fire as a reason to accelerate its plans to remove the residents and their belongings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The department is taking this action to address the increasingly serious safety risks to life, property and infrastructure at the encampment,” Caltrans officials said in the July 15 statement, “including from the fire [on July 11] that prompted the closure of the MacArthur Maze.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11919960\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57341_027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11919960\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57341_027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A sign says, 'Housing is a Human Right' at an encampment under a highway overpass.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57341_027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57341_027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57341_027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57341_027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57341_027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Cob on Wood garden at the Wood Street encampment in West Oakland on Tuesday, July 19, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, Caltrans crews were out, removing cars and other debris and placing notices on RVs, trailers, shipping containers and other structures, warning of imminent removal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tenant organizer Delphine Brody, who has been working with Wood Street residents for the past 18 months, said the timing was difficult for many residents — not only because of the abrupt notice given, but also because of surging COVID infections among camp residents and organizers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For Caltrans and the [California Highway Patrol] to choose this time is unthinkable,” Brody said. “We’re seeing what looks like the beginning of a surge now with the BA.5 subvariant, which seems to be affecting residents here as well. … We have residents who are falling ill with symptoms of COVID.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the residents said they had no idea where to go, but that it would likely be to disperse to other encampments on public land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have to play whack-a-mole,” said Wood Street resident Theo Cedar Jones, 59. “They squeeze us out of one area, we squeeze into another.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11919959\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57337_023_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11919959\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57337_023_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A person stands in a container looking at pieces of metal.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57337_023_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57337_023_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57337_023_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57337_023_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57337_023_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ramona Choyce, 44, sorts metal to sell at the Wood Street encampment in West Oakland on Tuesday, July 19, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The city of \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/02/24/governor-newsom-awards-50-million-to-local-communities-to-tackle-encampments/\">Oakland received $4.7 million\u003c/a> from the state’s Encampment Resolution Funding Program, specifically to clear its portion of the Wood Street encampment, said Karen Boyd, a spokesperson for the city. It’s already begun its cleanup of the land it owns at West Grand and 26th Street in preparation for a housing development for up to 100 formerly unhoused people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To move that project, the city must clear this street while continuing conversations with this community on the design of the program,” Boyd said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Wood Street resident Matthew Schatzinger, 45, isn’t optimistic he’ll be able to live in whatever new housing is being built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The consideration is not for the people that are here now,” Schatzinger said. “It’s for people in the future who might want housing. … And we are not those people. We’re being displaced for a solution that’s not for us.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Outreach teams had reached out to at least a dozen people on Oakland’s portion of the site. Six accepted offers of shelter, Boyd said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A hearing on the temporary restraining order is scheduled for Friday, July 22, at 10 a.m. The judge will decide whether to keep the order in place or allow Caltrans to move forward with its plans to remove residents from the site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The order allows Caltrans to remove debris, as long as it’s not related to the planned closure of the encampment. Caltrans spokesperson Mara said crews will continue work there but the encampment closure will not move forward, for now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>In April, Juan Carlos Cruz Mora received an eviction notice from his landlord that alleged he caused property damage and dirty, unsafe living conditions in the Sacramento suburb duplex he had called home for the last 10 years. He had only five days to file a response in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mora, who blamed his landlord for those issues, tried to file an answer with the court himself but feared a mistake could land him, his wife, and his two young children on the street. He said he paid a lawyer $1,000 to help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With one word I could lose the case,” he said in Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thousands of California tenants lose their homes every year because they fail to submit that initial answer in court. Failing to check the right box or file a timely response could, indeed, trigger a default judgment against them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A group of tenant advocates and attorneys today launched a tool they hope will change that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 50 tenant advocates and attorneys from the \u003ca href=\"https://debtcollective.org/\">Debt Collective\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://latenantsunion.org/en/\">LA Tenants Union\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://antievictionmap.com/\">Anti-Eviction Mapping Project\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://challengeinequality.luskin.ucla.edu/\">UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.acceaction.org/\">Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment\u003c/a> worked on the “Tenant Power Toolkit” over the last two years — a mostly volunteer effort, explains Hannah Appel, an anthropology professor at UCLA who came up with the idea based on her work as a co-founder of the \u003ca href=\"https://challengeinequality.luskin.ucla.edu/the-debt-collective-600-million-in-debt-discharge/\">Debt Collective\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The website they created resembles tax-return-filing software. It \u003ca href=\"https://tenantpowertoolkit.org/\">asks tenants a long series of questions\u003c/a> in relatively plain English, or Spanish, that produces a legal document they can print and submit in court. Tenants in Los Angeles County can file the paperwork electronically. If they choose, tenants can connect to other tenants and legal aid organizations through the website.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The questions vary by eviction type and location. For example, if their city has rent control for people over the age of 65 who have lived in the building for five years, the tool will ask tenants for their age and the time they’ve lived in the building and invoke that defense on paper, even if the tenants didn’t know the protection existed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"More Stories\" tag=\"tenants-rights\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of more than 129,000 eviction cases filed between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019, at least 24,000 tenants lost their court cases in a default judgment, according to data from the Judicial Council. That’s 46% of cases in courts that reported their outcomes — which most courts don’t do. Default judgments dropped to 7,600, or 40% of reported outcomes, last year as a result of statewide eviction protections, which researchers say make that not reflective of a typical year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a lawyer it really pained me to see tenants lose cases just because they couldn’t file a piece of paper,” said UCLA law professor Gary Blasi, one of the lead housing lawyers behind the tool. He called the tool the first of its kind nationwide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legalese isn’t the only thing that prevents a tenant from filing a response, according to Amber Crowell, an associate professor of sociology at Fresno State and housing coordinator at \u003ca href=\"https://faithinthevalley.org/\">Faith in the Valley\u003c/a>. Tenants often vacate their homes before going through the eviction process because they don’t think they stand a chance in court. Losing a case can damage a person’s credit and chance at renting another home.[pullquote size='medium' align='left' citation=\"Gary Blasi, UCLA law professor\"]‘As a lawyer it really pained me to see tenants lose cases just because they couldn’t file a piece of paper.’[/pullquote]The tool buys tenants at least 10 days to file an amended response and find a lawyer before the court trial. But its creators warn the website is no substitute for a lawyer. Access to legal aid remains rare for tenants, who nationally are represented by an attorney in 10% of cases, according to the ACLU. \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article237339549.html\">That statistic shrivels to 1% in Fresno\u003c/a>, Crowell found in a 2019 study. Blasi expects the tool will have a bigger impact in places where people have greater access to legal aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mora will defend himself in his upcoming court trial because he was unhappy with the private attorney he hired and unable to find free legal aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the tool was put together on a “shoestring budget,” the group hopes to attract more philanthropic and state funding to keep it up to date, especially as local jurisdictions pass new tenant protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But money isn’t all they want from lawmakers. The groups argue tenants should have a right to legal representation in court — efforts that have had little traction at the state level. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a watered-down version of that last year, a bill to create an ongoing \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billHistoryClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1487\">legal services trust fund for tenants\u003c/a> because he argued there was already money for tenant legal aid in the budget.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In April, Juan Carlos Cruz Mora received an eviction notice from his landlord that alleged he caused property damage and dirty, unsafe living conditions in the Sacramento suburb duplex he had called home for the last 10 years. He had only five days to file a response in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mora, who blamed his landlord for those issues, tried to file an answer with the court himself but feared a mistake could land him, his wife, and his two young children on the street. He said he paid a lawyer $1,000 to help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With one word I could lose the case,” he said in Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thousands of California tenants lose their homes every year because they fail to submit that initial answer in court. Failing to check the right box or file a timely response could, indeed, trigger a default judgment against them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A group of tenant advocates and attorneys today launched a tool they hope will change that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 50 tenant advocates and attorneys from the \u003ca href=\"https://debtcollective.org/\">Debt Collective\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://latenantsunion.org/en/\">LA Tenants Union\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://antievictionmap.com/\">Anti-Eviction Mapping Project\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://challengeinequality.luskin.ucla.edu/\">UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.acceaction.org/\">Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment\u003c/a> worked on the “Tenant Power Toolkit” over the last two years — a mostly volunteer effort, explains Hannah Appel, an anthropology professor at UCLA who came up with the idea based on her work as a co-founder of the \u003ca href=\"https://challengeinequality.luskin.ucla.edu/the-debt-collective-600-million-in-debt-discharge/\">Debt Collective\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The website they created resembles tax-return-filing software. It \u003ca href=\"https://tenantpowertoolkit.org/\">asks tenants a long series of questions\u003c/a> in relatively plain English, or Spanish, that produces a legal document they can print and submit in court. Tenants in Los Angeles County can file the paperwork electronically. If they choose, tenants can connect to other tenants and legal aid organizations through the website.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The questions vary by eviction type and location. For example, if their city has rent control for people over the age of 65 who have lived in the building for five years, the tool will ask tenants for their age and the time they’ve lived in the building and invoke that defense on paper, even if the tenants didn’t know the protection existed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of more than 129,000 eviction cases filed between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019, at least 24,000 tenants lost their court cases in a default judgment, according to data from the Judicial Council. That’s 46% of cases in courts that reported their outcomes — which most courts don’t do. Default judgments dropped to 7,600, or 40% of reported outcomes, last year as a result of statewide eviction protections, which researchers say make that not reflective of a typical year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a lawyer it really pained me to see tenants lose cases just because they couldn’t file a piece of paper,” said UCLA law professor Gary Blasi, one of the lead housing lawyers behind the tool. He called the tool the first of its kind nationwide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legalese isn’t the only thing that prevents a tenant from filing a response, according to Amber Crowell, an associate professor of sociology at Fresno State and housing coordinator at \u003ca href=\"https://faithinthevalley.org/\">Faith in the Valley\u003c/a>. Tenants often vacate their homes before going through the eviction process because they don’t think they stand a chance in court. Losing a case can damage a person’s credit and chance at renting another home.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The tool buys tenants at least 10 days to file an amended response and find a lawyer before the court trial. But its creators warn the website is no substitute for a lawyer. Access to legal aid remains rare for tenants, who nationally are represented by an attorney in 10% of cases, according to the ACLU. \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article237339549.html\">That statistic shrivels to 1% in Fresno\u003c/a>, Crowell found in a 2019 study. Blasi expects the tool will have a bigger impact in places where people have greater access to legal aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mora will defend himself in his upcoming court trial because he was unhappy with the private attorney he hired and unable to find free legal aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the tool was put together on a “shoestring budget,” the group hopes to attract more philanthropic and state funding to keep it up to date, especially as local jurisdictions pass new tenant protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But money isn’t all they want from lawmakers. The groups argue tenants should have a right to legal representation in court — efforts that have had little traction at the state level. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a watered-down version of that last year, a bill to create an ongoing \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billHistoryClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1487\">legal services trust fund for tenants\u003c/a> because he argued there was already money for tenant legal aid in the budget.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Despite repeated requests from CalMatters for comment prior to this article’s publication, the state housing department made someone available for interview only today, after publication. The story has been updated to include their response.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eviction protections for thousands of California households still waiting in line for payments from the state’s multibillion-dollar rent relief program expired last Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since September 2020, the Legislature has passed and Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed four laws shielding tenants who were unable to pay rent due to COVID-19 from eviction. The \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2022/03/california-eviction-protections-deal/\">most recent extension\u003c/a> shielded through June 30 tenants who had applied for rent relief from the state’s $5 billion program by the March 31 deadline but had yet to hear back or receive payments. Those tenants now can be brought to court by their landlords.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s highly unlikely that they are going to get through all these applications by June 30, when the eviction protections expire,” Sarah Treuhaft, vice president of research at PolicyLink, a nonprofit that has been reviewing the state’s rent relief program, said during a press conference this week. “This means they are likely to be evicted and they might eventually get rental assistance.”[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Madeline Howard, senior staff attorney, Western Center on Law and Poverty\"]‘Tenants are facing eviction even as their landlords are given these giant checks and tenants who are eligible for assistance are being denied with these cryptic notices that don’t tell them why.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Debra Carlton, chief lobbyist for the California Apartment Association, said they have asked their members not to take their tenants with pending applications to court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Department of Housing and Community Development, which administers the program through a contractor, said on July 1 they had approved all complete applications for eligible tenants. Geoffrey Ross, a deputy director handling the program, said they are still processing 13,000 applications that are either missing documentation, or represent an appeal following a denial. They expect to clear all pending applications by early August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rent relief program has paid 339,000 households an average of $11,000 totaling nearly $4 billion, according to the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://housing.ca.gov/covid_rr/dashboard.html\">public data dashboard\u003c/a>. Checks will soon be on their way to about 16,000 households approved this week.[aside postID=\"news_11918382,news_11918289\" label=\"Related Posts\"]The gap between completed applications and approved ones has shrunk significantly over the past week as case management has ramped up. On June 30, the program dashboard showed that about 404,000 people had completed their applications. Late this morning, following the original publishing of this story, the dashboard was updated to show only 352,000 completed applications. Ross said that more than 70,000 applicants were cleared from the queue and issued denials because of account inactivity. These applicants with incomplete applications were contacted at least three times and given at least 20 days to respond, many times longer, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using data from June 23,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>PolicyLink, which has been reviewing weekly program data from the state through Public Record Act requests, found that \u003ca href=\"https://nationalequityatlas.org/ca-rental-assistance\">more than 28,000 initial applicants and 57,000 people who reapplied have not yet heard back\u003c/a> from the program. Ross from the housing department said the data, albeit produced by the state, has “flaws within the interpretation” but declined to comment on specifics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Horne LLP, a Mississippi-based accounting firm that specializes in disaster relief, will be paid a maximum of $278 million to distribute federal rent relief funds capped at $4.5 billion, according to a contract renewal dated April 1 that CalMatters obtained through the Public Records Act on June 17. The housing department was unable to say how much the company had been paid to date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, a Democrat from Oakland and co-author of the last extension, acknowledged the program has been “incredibly frustrating.” She said the state housing department had assured her qualifying applications would be paid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s no secret that it’s had challenges,” she said. “And while I’m sympathetic to some of the challenges we’ve had as a state government in terms of dealing with a global pandemic that none of us anticipated, it’s also our job as government to run well especially when you’re talking about critical social safety nets.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there’s a silver lining for tenant advocates. A key portion of the now expired law was the preemption of more stringent local measures against eviction, many of which will now go into effect, including in \u003ca href=\"https://dcba.lacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/RESOLUTION-FAQ-4.4.2022.pdf\">Los Angeles County\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state faces at least two lawsuits over the program from tenant advocates, who argue it has \u003ca href=\"https://wclp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Petition-for-Writ-of-Mandate-DP.pdf\">denied funding to qualifying tenants\u003c/a> and isn’t covering the amount of \u003ca href=\"https://wclp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/22.05.02-Verified-Petition-for-Writ-of-Mandate.pdf\">rental debt originally promised\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 135,000 people — or nearly a third of all households — who applied for rent relief had their applications rejected as of June 17, according to data CalMatters obtained from the housing department through the Public Records Act. That number spiked in the last few weeks as the program wound down. The lawsuit, which cites the same set of data, says tenants are receiving little to no explanation for their denials, which makes it difficult to contest the final decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tenants are facing eviction even as their landlords are given these giant checks and tenants who are eligible for assistance are being denied with these cryptic notices that don’t tell them why. It just doesn’t make sense,” said Madeline Howard, a senior staff attorney at Western Center on Law and Poverty, one of the groups suing the state over the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ross, from the housing department, was unable to provide specific numbers on denials, but said about half of applicants are denied over ineligibility: They either make too much money, don’t reside in a place covered by the state program, applied for a time period outside the program guidelines or were unable to prove their tenancy or the impact the pandemic has had on their ability to pay rent. The other half of denials were due to incomplete or inactive applications. He said an unspecified number of applications were fraudulent, or had been submitted multiple times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said tenants with incomplete applications are told which section they need to provide further proof on, but aren’t limited to specific documents. He also said they were given instructions on how to reach their case managers for help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wicks said the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2022/06/california-budget-deal-2/\">latest state budget\u003c/a>, approved this week, includes nearly $2 billion to pay back the state for a line of credit opened earlier this year to pay tenants who submitted applications prior to March 31, although it does not include any new funds for rent relief. The program covered rent for up to 18 months between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2022, for lower-income tenants who were financially affected by COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Despite repeated requests from CalMatters for comment prior to this article’s publication, the state housing department made someone available for interview only today, after publication. The story has been updated to include their response.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eviction protections for thousands of California households still waiting in line for payments from the state’s multibillion-dollar rent relief program expired last Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since September 2020, the Legislature has passed and Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed four laws shielding tenants who were unable to pay rent due to COVID-19 from eviction. The \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2022/03/california-eviction-protections-deal/\">most recent extension\u003c/a> shielded through June 30 tenants who had applied for rent relief from the state’s $5 billion program by the March 31 deadline but had yet to hear back or receive payments. Those tenants now can be brought to court by their landlords.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s highly unlikely that they are going to get through all these applications by June 30, when the eviction protections expire,” Sarah Treuhaft, vice president of research at PolicyLink, a nonprofit that has been reviewing the state’s rent relief program, said during a press conference this week. “This means they are likely to be evicted and they might eventually get rental assistance.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Debra Carlton, chief lobbyist for the California Apartment Association, said they have asked their members not to take their tenants with pending applications to court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Department of Housing and Community Development, which administers the program through a contractor, said on July 1 they had approved all complete applications for eligible tenants. Geoffrey Ross, a deputy director handling the program, said they are still processing 13,000 applications that are either missing documentation, or represent an appeal following a denial. They expect to clear all pending applications by early August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rent relief program has paid 339,000 households an average of $11,000 totaling nearly $4 billion, according to the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://housing.ca.gov/covid_rr/dashboard.html\">public data dashboard\u003c/a>. Checks will soon be on their way to about 16,000 households approved this week.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The gap between completed applications and approved ones has shrunk significantly over the past week as case management has ramped up. On June 30, the program dashboard showed that about 404,000 people had completed their applications. Late this morning, following the original publishing of this story, the dashboard was updated to show only 352,000 completed applications. Ross said that more than 70,000 applicants were cleared from the queue and issued denials because of account inactivity. These applicants with incomplete applications were contacted at least three times and given at least 20 days to respond, many times longer, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using data from June 23,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>PolicyLink, which has been reviewing weekly program data from the state through Public Record Act requests, found that \u003ca href=\"https://nationalequityatlas.org/ca-rental-assistance\">more than 28,000 initial applicants and 57,000 people who reapplied have not yet heard back\u003c/a> from the program. Ross from the housing department said the data, albeit produced by the state, has “flaws within the interpretation” but declined to comment on specifics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Horne LLP, a Mississippi-based accounting firm that specializes in disaster relief, will be paid a maximum of $278 million to distribute federal rent relief funds capped at $4.5 billion, according to a contract renewal dated April 1 that CalMatters obtained through the Public Records Act on June 17. The housing department was unable to say how much the company had been paid to date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, a Democrat from Oakland and co-author of the last extension, acknowledged the program has been “incredibly frustrating.” She said the state housing department had assured her qualifying applications would be paid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s no secret that it’s had challenges,” she said. “And while I’m sympathetic to some of the challenges we’ve had as a state government in terms of dealing with a global pandemic that none of us anticipated, it’s also our job as government to run well especially when you’re talking about critical social safety nets.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there’s a silver lining for tenant advocates. A key portion of the now expired law was the preemption of more stringent local measures against eviction, many of which will now go into effect, including in \u003ca href=\"https://dcba.lacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/RESOLUTION-FAQ-4.4.2022.pdf\">Los Angeles County\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state faces at least two lawsuits over the program from tenant advocates, who argue it has \u003ca href=\"https://wclp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Petition-for-Writ-of-Mandate-DP.pdf\">denied funding to qualifying tenants\u003c/a> and isn’t covering the amount of \u003ca href=\"https://wclp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/22.05.02-Verified-Petition-for-Writ-of-Mandate.pdf\">rental debt originally promised\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 135,000 people — or nearly a third of all households — who applied for rent relief had their applications rejected as of June 17, according to data CalMatters obtained from the housing department through the Public Records Act. That number spiked in the last few weeks as the program wound down. The lawsuit, which cites the same set of data, says tenants are receiving little to no explanation for their denials, which makes it difficult to contest the final decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tenants are facing eviction even as their landlords are given these giant checks and tenants who are eligible for assistance are being denied with these cryptic notices that don’t tell them why. It just doesn’t make sense,” said Madeline Howard, a senior staff attorney at Western Center on Law and Poverty, one of the groups suing the state over the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ross, from the housing department, was unable to provide specific numbers on denials, but said about half of applicants are denied over ineligibility: They either make too much money, don’t reside in a place covered by the state program, applied for a time period outside the program guidelines or were unable to prove their tenancy or the impact the pandemic has had on their ability to pay rent. The other half of denials were due to incomplete or inactive applications. He said an unspecified number of applications were fraudulent, or had been submitted multiple times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said tenants with incomplete applications are told which section they need to provide further proof on, but aren’t limited to specific documents. He also said they were given instructions on how to reach their case managers for help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wicks said the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2022/06/california-budget-deal-2/\">latest state budget\u003c/a>, approved this week, includes nearly $2 billion to pay back the state for a line of credit opened earlier this year to pay tenants who submitted applications prior to March 31, although it does not include any new funds for rent relief. The program covered rent for up to 18 months between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2022, for lower-income tenants who were financially affected by COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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}
},
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"id": "bbc-world-service",
"title": "BBC World Service",
"info": "The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
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"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
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},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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}
},
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"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
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"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"order": 1
},
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"here-and-now": {
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"order": 15
},
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 18
},
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
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"filters": [
"Any Region"
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"cuisine": {
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"requestOutcomesReducer": {
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}
}