Rent laws don’t apply to neediest
Eight months ago, Aleida Ramirez managed a pizza restaurant in Alamo.
She hasn’t worked there since March 16, the day six Bay Area counties, including Contra Costa, announced coronavirus shelter in place orders for residents. That night, Ramirez, a single mother, began worrying about how she’d pay rent for her threebedroom apartment at Clayton Crossing Apartments, a 300unit complex in Concord.
Apartment management soon gave her more reason to worry.
“A week later — no joke — a week later, we all got the letter that June 1 we were going to get a rent increase,” Ramirez said. “There’s no empathy, no consideration whatsoever. It’s about the bottom line increasing. They don’t care.”
Dozens of residents formed Clayton Crossing Unidos, a tenants union formed in April. Many believe management of the complex on Monument Boulevard breached county and state ordinances designed to protect out of work renters from evictions and rent increases.
Lorraine Rosales, Clayton Crossing’s property manager, declined to comment when reached by phone last week. Instead, she directed me to Avenue5 Residential, the property management company with a vast portfolio in California, Texas, Arizona, Oregon and Washington state. I didn’t hear back after sending multiple requests for comment.
In August, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB3088, a bill that stops evictions on tenants unable to pay
rent because of the pandemic. In September, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors extended the county’s eviction protection and rent freeze ordinance.
But Clayton Crossing is exempt from some housing legislation meant to protect tenants — during the pandemic and otherwise. Here’s why: Clayton Crossing is a socalled tax credit property. The complex rents units under the LowIncome Housing Tax Credit policy, a federal program that subsidizes the construction and rehabilitation of affordable rental housing for lowincome renters.
On Jan. 1, AB1482, the Tenant Protection Act of 2019, made it illegal for residential landlords to raise rent more than 5%, plus the local rate of inflation, in one year. But, according to Section 1947.12 of California’s civil code, the law doesn’t apply to “an agreement with a government agency, or other recorded document as affordable housing for persons and families of very low, low, or moderate income.”
The rent increase is hard to stomach for stressed renters like Ramirez, because rents are falling across the Bay Area. In October, San Francisco topped the U. S. list for biggest rental price decreases, according to listing website Zumper, my colleague Kellie Hwang reported. In Oakland, the median onebedroom rent was $ 2,020, a decrease of 5.2% from September and a whopping 19% drop from a year ago.
The Clayton Crossing rent increase was postponed from June 1 until Aug. 1, then again to Sept. 1, when it went into effect. Ramirez, who has lived in her apartment for four years, is one month behind in rent. Some of her neighbors haven’t been able to pay rent in months, she said. When she moved in, she was paying $ 1,300 a month. In September, her rent was raised $ 106 to $ 1,868, a 6% increase. That’s still $ 1,000 lower than the average rent for a threebedroom apartment in Concord, which is $ 2,895, according to Zumper.
Election season is almost over, and maybe you can breathe a sigh of relief. But if you think it’s smooth sailing from here, don’t hold your breath. There isn’t a plan for underwater renters and homeowners to catch up on missed payments.
And the pandemic, which rages unchecked in this country because of inept leadership by the federal government, consistently reveals that the most vulnerable are also the most unprotected in society.
Clayton Crossing Unidos demanded that leaky faucets, broken pipes and other issues be fixed. After complaints to the Concord City Council, city inspectors came out to the property last month. The garbage disposal was fixed in Ramirez’s kitchen, and the crack in the living room wall was filled. But the wall still hasn’t been painted, and the sliding door to her hall closet still doesn’t work.
With her savings drained, Ramirez, 42, says she can’t afford to pay more in rent without a steady job. She delivers groceries for Instacart when she can get someone to watch her 11yearold daughter, Emily. In addition to Emily, Ramirez raised three of her younger sister’s children. Two are now in college, and the youngest, who is 21 and autistic, still lives with her.
“My main goal has always been the roof, clothes and food,” said Ramirez, who joined a mental health support group that meets using Zoom. “I told my daughter, ‘ I want to feel capable of supporting you in every single way.’ When I can’t do that, it’s emotional. I need to prove to myself that I can get through this, and prove to my daughter there are ways to make it work.”
Her neighbors in the area of Concord known as Monument Corridor are from Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador. Many are undocumented, Ramirez said, and worked in the service industry where they were paid under the table. Many lost their jobs and owe thousands in back rent. She’s speaking out for them, too.
“A lot of them are afraid to speak up,” said Ramirez, who became a U. S. citizen after moving to Los Angeles from Guatemala a month before her 20th birthday. “They don’t have unemployment. They don’t have financial aid. Nothing. They’re scared to come up and be a part of ( Clayton Crossing Unidos) because if they get kicked out, where are they gonna go without a job?”