Seniors in limbo as eviction looms
Nearly a dozen seniors living in an assisted living facility in San Pablo face potential eviction in about two weeks, amid a deepening health crisis surrounding the new coronavirus and calls for a temporary halt on all displacement of tenants. The looming eviction comes after the property owners decided last year to sell the building.
Most of the residents moved away, but for the last remaining seniors, their futures are uncertain as concerns rise over the rapid spread of the coronavirus. Many of the residents don’t know where to go amid both the public health and housing crisis.
“We are not just worried about the eviction itself, but the virus makes everything so much more difficult for us,” said Carley Angell, 82, one of the residents. “I have pretty severe lung and kidney problems and I’m also over 80. So that puts me in the most susceptible group.”
Contra Costa County is one of six Bay Area counties that announced
“We are not just worried about the eviction itself, but the virus makes everything so much more difficult for us.”
Carley Angell, Brookdale San Pablo resident
a shelterinplace order until at least April 7. The residents at Brookdale are seniors, many of whom have health conditions and are a “highrisk” population.
City officials throughout California are passing emergency ordinances to stop evictions and others are calling for eviction moratoriums. Gov. Gavin Newsom authorized local governments to halt evictions for residents affected by COVID19 through May. But some city leaders and advocates say the order doesn’t go far enough in protecting people during a volatile crisis. And instead of enforcing a sweeping order that postpones all evictions, local jurisdictions that are already scrambling to deal with the public health crisis are left to interpret the order.
“The executive order that he issued ... to address evictions did almost nothing, as far as we can tell, and basically said local jurisdictions you figure it out,” said Meghan Gordon, director of the housing team at East Bay Community Law Center. Tenants “need to be responding depending on which county they live in and whether those courts are open. He could’ve done something and he didn’t.”
In Contra Costa County, the courts are closed until April 1. During that time, all evictions were postponed by the Sheriff ’s Department.
Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia said the county is working with the health department to develop an eviction moratorium based on the governor’s order. Gioia said the county’s attorneys are determining what jurisdiction they have over cities and certain facilities, including Brookdale San Pablo.
“What I’m unclear is what is authority and scope do we have and what kind of facilities does it cover,” he said. “The goal is to give the maximum amount of eviction protection to residents, especially to vulnerable populations.”
Elsewhere in the Bay Area, similar measures are being taken to curb evictions and help tame the uncertainty that some tenants are feeling. City leaders are taking the governor’s directive and trying to figure out how they can apply it to their city.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed issued a moratorium on evictions last week, but it only applies to tenants who lose income related to a business closure, loss of employment or hours or outofpocket medical costs due to the COVID19 pandemic.
On Tuesday, Supervisor Dean Preston said he plans to take the moratorium a step further by introducing an emergency ordinance to include nofault evictions, which isn’t covered under Breed’s order. Preston said he hopes to have the emergency ordinance passed within a few weeks and also plans to send a resolution to the governor calling for stronger action on evictions.
“Passing these kinds of laws is really disappointing and (it’s) kind of ridiculous that right now a residential landlord would move forward with an eviction,” Preston said. “We’ve got a city order telling people not to leave their homes.”
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo has also issued similar eviction moratorium for people affected by coronavirusrelated issues.
Sheriff ’s departments in San Francisco and Alameda counties announced plans to postpone evictions during the crisis. Sheriffs are tasked with carrying out evictions.
Oakland Councilwoman Nikki Fortunato Bas introduced an ordinance this week to halt all eviction court proceedings and reject new filings in Alameda County. Bas applauded the Alameda County Sheriff ’s effort and said the city needs to “ensure housing economic security longer term.”
As it stands, it’s unclear whether Angell and her fellow residents would be covered by any moratoriums. Brookdale alerted residents in November that their facility was shutting down and the property owners planned to sell the space.
Brookdale, a national corporation that operates 800 senior living facilities in 45 states, leases the San Pablo facility. They notified the property owners in the fall that they wouldn’t renew the lease. The property owners are in negotiations to sell the building.
“We are strongly calling on Brookdale and the owners of the property to halt and stop the eviction,” said Melvin Willis, a lead organizer for the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment. “Do not evict these tenants during the time of a shelter in place in a pandemic.”
Brookdale said it asked the property owners to “suspend the closing of the community for the time being,” but to no avail. The eviction date is March 30, though it could be delayed by the county.
Steve Arnold, one of the property owners, said the responsibility is on Brookdale to keep its residents safe. He said he would be willing to sit and talk with Brookdale, but that any requests to extend the resident’s stay can’t be “openended.”
“Do we think that coronavirus is a bad thing? Yes we do,” Arnold said. “The residents need to be relocated to a place that provides them the same protection they have now.”
Nearly 80 people lived at the facility before eviction notices were sent out in January. Now, only about a dozen remain and they plan to fight the eviction.
Vince Dunn, 73, has lived at the facility for 14 months. He doesn’t know where he could go for the same price that he pays now at the San Pablo facility — $895 per month for a one bedroom.
“This was going to be my gateway to heaven,” he said. “It turned into being my corridor to hell. I wanted to die here. I wanted to have a peaceful place to go out, and it’s turned out I have to go somewhere else now. It just kind of hurts.”