Item 6.a.(19)

Wonkblog The next big fight over housing could happen, literally, in your back yard

.An unfinished second home in t he Cheviot Hills neighborhood of Los Ang·eles. The home 'Nhere Len Jud<:1ken vvants to live overlooks his son's bach ya 1·cl . (Stmnt Pa lley for The \IVash ington Po:::;t )

LOS ANGELES - In the new home Julia Coffee designed for herself, handpicking the tiles and the flooring and the red front door, the microwave doesn't work. Neither does the dishwasher, the garbage disposal, the washing machine, nor - including on 100-degree days - the central air.

Everything else runs on braided extension cords that snake into the bedrooms, through the living room, across the kitchen floor, out the window, through the yard and into her daughter's house. Charles, Coffee's 82-year-old husband who relies on a walker, tends to accidentally unplug things.

Page 1 of 10 "We have a nice little place here," said Julia Coffee, 74. "But we really would like to get our power turned on."

The Coffees built their two-bedroom home, the smallest they've lived in since they were married 44 years ago, in their daughter's back yard. They were just finishing the place when a lawsuit earlier this year against the city of Los Angeles brought permits for homes like theirs - second units on single-family lots - to a halt. As a result, city officials who gave them permission to build now haven't given them a certificate of occupancy, and the utility won't connect them to the power grid.

Second homes, often called "granny flats," have become a new front in the conflict that pits the need for more housing in the country's most expensive cities against the wishes of neighbors who want to preserve their communities. The same battles flare over large developments that might loom over single-family neighborhoods. But even this modest idea for new housing - let homeowners build it ip. their own back yards - has run into not-in-my-back-yard resistance.

And the difficulty of implementing even such a small-scale solution shows why it will be hard to make room in crowded cities for the middle- and working-class households who increasingly struggle to afford to live there.

Charles and Julia Coffee at their home in the Granada Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. The built the property for their retirement in their daughter's back yard. (Stuart Palley for The Washington Post)

Page 2 of 10 Extension cords running from the Coffees' home power all their lights, TV and appliances. (Stuart Palley for The Washington Post)

Homes like the Coffees', proponents argue, could help ease housing shortages that have made $2,000-a-month one-bedrooms look like a bargain in cities such as Los Angeles. They could yield new affordable housing at no cost to the public. They could add rentals and economic diversity to more neighborhoods. And they could expand housing options for a population in which baby boomers are aging and millennials are stuck at home.

Many neighbors, though, protest that a glut of back yard building would spoil the character of neighborhoods designed around the American ideal of one family on one lot surrounded by verdant lawn. They fear that more residents will mean less parking. And they question whether small homes, particularly in wealthier neighborhoods with the most room to build them, would really constitute affordable housing.

And so across the country, homes like the Coffees' remain extremely difficult - if not outright illegal - to build.

"We are determined to add needed units to communities without changing the look and feel of our neighborhoods," said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who wants to remove more barriers to second units. He adds that such housing would make the city more affordable not just for renters but also for homeowners. "The extra rental income could make the difference for a potential homeowner between affording a mortgage or not," he said.

Page 3 of 10 Garcetti wants to add 100,000 new housing units by 2 021, with 15,000 of them affordable. In a city with 6oo,ooo single-family homes, even a small fraction of homeowners building second units would help achieve that second goal. Other places offer similar opportunity. In Seattle, more than half the city's buildable land is reserved for single-family housing. It's estimated that the East Bay around Oakland could get as much as half of its new infill housing from back yards.

In Washington, D.C., an updated zoning code adopted this year includes changes - among the more contested ones - that make it easier for more homeowners to build and rent out second homes. As of September, many more properties - smaller homes, rowhouses, homes with garage apartments once limited to "domestic" workers and relatives - ''1ll be legally allowed to have accessory rentals.

Home prices are soaring out of reach Median home price, by city

Oakland ·· ··· Seattle los Angeles .L..::...-~,..,_oc

400k ...... ~ ...... Portland

200k ··:· ·· ··· ··· ··········:···· ···· ··· ······ ······· ······ ·· ·· ·· ········ ·· ··· ··· ···· ·· ·' ......

o ~------~------~~------~------~------~--- 2011 201 2 2013 2014 2015 201 6

WAPO.ST/ WONKBLOG Source: Trulia

Page 4 of 10 But Los Angeles is particularly well suited to the idea, with excess capacity hiding among many post-war ranches built on spacious lots.

The Coffee's one-story home is hard to see from the street. It is 1,200 square feet, the largest allowed by California law for secondary units. It sits at the end of a long driveway, behind a gate. The Coffees planned to live out their retirement here within quick rescue by their children as they grow more frail.

But now they are effectively squatting in their own home, in a residence they spent about $350,000 to build and for which they don't yet have a title. "We didn't plan on sinking our retirement money into a home that we couldn't get it back out of," Coffee said.

Now the couple are waiting for Los Angeles to resolve the legal fight over what kind of second housing the city can allow. They have already hung the new address intended for their home from the driveway gate. But even the postal service doesn't recognize it.

Reconsidering the rules

The battle in Los Angeles began in Mark Judaken's back yard.

"This is the living room," says his father, Len, 86, walking through a house where it is not entirely clear that what he's pointing to is a living room. "And I think the kitchen is over here."

The 895-square-foot one-bedroom where he hoped to live is fully framed, with plywood floors. But the tony Cheviot Hills neighborhood is visible through the walls in all directions. This is the home that prompted the lawsuit.

Page 5 of 10 Overlooking the neighborhood, Len Judaken points at one of his children's homes from his unfmished property. (Stuart Palley for The Washington Post)

"We live in America. It's a free country," said Judaken, who, like his son, has worked as a real estate developer. "You have a right to use your property to its best advantage."

Carlyle Hall, a longtime land-use lawyer who lives two properties down, suspected the project was too ambitious to meet city rules about back yard dwellings. An old Los Angeles ordinance strictly limited the size and location of second units. But in 2010, Los Angeles began deferring instead to a more generous state law designed to encourage their construction, and under those rules, the Coffees and Judakens were given permission to build. Hall's lawsuit, though, accused Los Angeles of ignoring its own ordinance. And when a Superior Court judge agreed in February, several hundred property owners got caught in legal limbo.

Even if Hall didn't have legal grounds for challenging the Judakens' project, he said he would be troubled by what they're building.

"It would certainly bother me, and it bothers the neighbors," he said. "It doesn't fit into the neighborhood. It's really changing the character, and you can see it from everywhere."

Cheviot Hills doesn't have a singular architectural style. But it is an upscale, overwhelmingly single-family neighborhood. And in a place like this, Hall said, accessory buildings should be accessory - modest, unseen, subordinate to the main homes at street view, and certainly not peering into the neighbors' yards. Page 6 of 10 Len Judaken's unfmished home in Cheviot Hills Friday, next to a neighbor's property. (Stuart Palley for The Washington Post)

Vinit Mukhija, an urban planning expert at UCLA, said opposition to second homes often involves calls to preserve a neighborhood's "character," a sweeping word that can refer as much to the social character as to the physical design of a community.

Secondary units threaten the concept of "single-family" living that has long been sacrosanct in America, conjuring the idea of one family living in one home surrounded by other single-family homes. The ideal is as much about neighborhoods as houses.

Secondary units don't just alter the scenery or erode privacy. Build enough, and a neighborhood may not truly remain single-family anymore, with all its associations of middle-class stability and nuclear families.

Ahin Durning, executive director of the Sightline Institute, a Seattle-based think tank that has pushed for laxer rules on second homes, argues that it's time to reconsider that picture, given the changing reality of how Americans live.

"You have surging housing prices in the most prosperous cities in the country, and at the same time income inequality is growing, and there's a cultural and demographic , resurgence of urban living," he said. Young people with less money, in particular, he adds, are "slamming into their parents and grandparents' regulatory regimes of strict limits on construction of new housing."

Page 7 of 10 Arguments that sound to advocates like a case in favor of second homes - their potential to accommodate renters and modest incomes - are reasons for others to distrust them.

"There is a mind-set in suburbia that we just don't want that type of housing on our lots, affordable housing," said California state Sen. Bob Wieckowski, who represents part of the Bay Area. "And we don't want that because it's going to be those people - which is ridiculous, because the cost of housing in California is so high that it's really us. It's teachers and the people that work on my staff."

The California law meant to encourage second units in the face of a housing crisis has run up against local ordinances that make them all but impossible to build. Pasadena requires 15,000-square-foot lots to build them. Other cities require additional covered parking spots for each unit and utility hookup fees that cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Wieckowski sponsored one of two bills in the California legislature this year to overrule some of those restrictions. The California Teachers Association, desperate for more affordable housing, is among the powerful groups backing it. Of the state's previous law, Wieckowski said, "it's been a complete failure."

A prototype project

Travel through parts of Los Angeles and it's clear there are unpermitted second units everywhere. They're apparent from curtained windows in what otherwise would be garages, and from glimpses of front doors down driveways. People frantic for housing have been creating it anyway. Mukhija, the UCLA professor, estimates that Los Angeles has as many as so,ooo illegal second units.

"I think that's a signal for planners to recognize that our rules are not working and they need to change," he said.

The city is hoping, first, to resolve the lawsuit - and the confusion for homeowners like the Coffees - by repealing the existing local ordinance. Afterward, Los Angeles would begin considering a new ordinance that could make building second units less onerous. Homeowners' associations are already lobbying against weaker standards.

Other cities facing housing crises are weighing changes, too, including San Jose, Palo Alto and Seattle. Still others - including Portland, Oakland, San Francisco and Austin - have

Page 8 of 10 already taken action. But for the most part, it's been incremental. San Francisco approved second units in 2014 in some neighborhoods, a change that created barely more than 100 new units of housing before the city considered expanding the policy this summer.

It's getting harder to afford rent Median monthly rent, by city $3,0 00 ··.·· ··· ···· ··· ·· ...... Oakland Los Angeles ~---_,..,...... ,_,~---=:::::::::~~~!:+:::R~attle

$2,000 :········· · · · · ·· ·· · > ·· · · · · · · · · · · · · ·· · · : ··· · ......

$1,000 ..: ...... : ...... :...... ;...... : ......

o ~------~------~------~------~------2011 201 2 201 3 20 14 201 5 2016

WAPO.ST/WONK!BlOG Source: Tr ulia

To bolster its case, the mayor's office in Los Angeles is planning a pair of prototypes to study how second units could more easily be built and to show neighbors they're not so menacing. Affordable housing in a multi-family building in expensive cities can run about $300,000-$400,ooo per unit to build. Los Angeles also wants to demonstrate that a comparable unit can cost a third of that in the form of a second home.

Trent Wolbe and Grace Lee, who own a small1920s home in rapidly gentrifying Highland Park, are scheduled to build the first prototype. A community lender is underwriting their construction loan, because traditional banks won't finance such properties.

Page 9 of 10 Wolbe and Lee would like to move into the new unit, with their 2 1/2-year-old daughter Cora, and rent out their current home to another family.

"We see the problem inherent in a neighborhood where prices are going out of reach for most people," Wolbe said. He bought the home before the market picked up in 2012 and considers that a stroke ofluck that indebts him to the community. "I feel like we sort of owe something to the world at large other than just jacking up the rent as much as we possibly can go."

Emily Badger is a reporter for Wonkblog covering urban policy. She was previously a staff writer at The Atlantic Cities.

Source: https :/ /www. washington post. com/news/ won k/wp/2016/08/07 / why-building-a-home-on-your -own-Ia nd-has­ become-so-controversial/

Page 10 of 10 SAN FRANCISCO Item 6.a.(20) BUSINESS TIMES

REAL ESTATE INC. Airbnb rakes in $850 million in funding, raises value to $30 billion .\ug 8, 2016, 7:12am PDT

By Ri ley McDermid, Digital Producer

San Francisco-based home-sharing network Airbnb has raised $850 million in a funding round that valued it at $30 billion, the company said in Series F filing with the State of Delaware, multiple news sources report.

The round is not the company's biggest yet - that distinction belongs to a $1 .5 billion funding raised last year- but it is particularly distinctive because Airbnb airbnb reportedly rejected a larger deal.

"The company previously had an approximate valuation of $27 billion, so while the round is large, it doesn't deviate San Francisco-based home-sharing network Airbnb has raised ssso million in a from prior anti-dilution strategies," ftmding rotmd thar valued it at 530 billion. TechCrunch reports. "With respect to deals that Airbnb reportedly walked away from, the $850 million dollar deal is tame. The Wall Street Journal reported that Airbnb left money on the table, rejecting a deal that would have valued the company at $34 billion."

Airbnb declined to comment to the Business Times on Monday.

Airbnb's recent push for a funding round and employee stock sale that values the company at as much as $30 billion was designed to help it avoid going public, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The New York Times reported on the initial fund raising last week. But citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal now reports that the $750 million funding push is crucial to helping Airbnb stay a privately held company for as long a possible. A separate deal will let investors buy $200 million of stock from Airbnb employees.

"Airbnb designed the double-barrel deals to relieve some of the pressure to go public," the Wall Street Journal reports.

"By adding new cash, it can continue to spend on its global expansion; and by cashing out longtime employees, it can reward and retain top talent without an IPO. Over 500 of Airbnb's roughly 2,500 employees are eligible to sell shares, according to one person familiar with the deal."

Page 1 of 2 The funding valuation will make Aibnb the third most valuable privately held company, behind San Francisco based ri de hailing service Uber and Chinese tech company Xiaomi Corp.

Last month, the company sued the city of San Francisco over a host of new regulations the City of San Francisco has put in place to rein in home-sharing companies like Airbnb, making a July 27 compliance deadline obsolete.

Riley covers breaking news and oversees all digital content.

Source: http:/ /www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2016/08/airbnb-valued-at-30-billion-hospitality­ tourism.html

Page 2 of 2 EAST BAY TIMES Item 6.a.(21)

Husin ess Palo Alto planning commissioner quits over high housin·g cost

By Richard Scheinin 1 [email protected] PUBLISHED: August 10,2016 at 1:40pm I UPDATED: August 15, 2016 at 9:16am

PALO ALTO- You're a well-paid professional. You work in techo You've got it madeo

Not ifyou want to buy a house in Silicon Valleyo

On Wednesday, a planning commissioner here became the very public voice of the region's frustrations over spiraling housing costs when she published her resignation letter to the city of Palo Alto. It said that she and her husband are moving to Santa Cruz because - even with their combined incomes as a tech lawyer and software engineer- they can't afford to live in this upscale city.

After five years of "trying to make it work in Palo Alto, my husband and I cannot see a way to stay in Palo Alto and raise a family here," Planning and Transportation Commissioner Kate Downing wrote in her public resignation letter.

The letter makes personal what the numbers show: That rising rents and home prices of recent years have put the region beyond the reach of many, even some at the top of the heap - including in the lucrative tech industry that fuels the rush for housing.

The average rent in Palo Alto was $3,463 in the second quarter of2016, according to a report last month from Novato-based RealFacts. In June, the median price of a single-family home was $1.2 million in San Mateo County and $982,500 in Santa Clara County, according to the CoreLogic real estate information service.

Downing, 31, has a full-time job as senior corporate counsel to a tech company in Santa Clara. In an interview, she explained that her letter "is not supposed to be a sad story about me. I'm going to land on my feet. I'm extraordinarily lucky and privileged. I'm going to be fine."

Rather, she characterized the letter as a warning call about economic trends and failed policies that are hurting Palo Alto and the region. "It's clear," she wrote, "that if professionals like me cannot raise a family here, then all of our teachers, first responders and service workers are in dire straits."

Downing and her engineer husband, Steve Downing, 33 , share a 2,300-square-foot, four-bedroom house in Palo Alto's Ventura neighborhood with another couple. The monthly rent is $6,200.

"That's actually pretty cheap for here," she said in the interview. "We probably pay on the low end of what they could get for our home." Page 1 of 3 Her letter calculated that if the couple "wanted to buy the same home and share it with children and not roommates, it would cost $2.7 million, and our monthly payment would be $12,177 a month in mortgage, taxes and insurance. That's $146,127 per year- an entire professional's income before taxes. This is unaffordable even for an attorney and a software engineer."

The Downings based those numbers on putting 20 percent down: "If you put down less than that, you' re not going to get picked," she said. "Everyone knows how competitive it is in Palo Alto, with multiple offers on every house. Some ofthem are putting down all cash. They're coming in with just gigantic deposits."

Downing's letter, a colleague said, is a timely commentary on Palo Alto's changing demographics: "All of us who are in our 20s and 30 and 40s- we're used to seeing people leave," said Elaine Uang, a co-founder with Downing of the community group Palo Alto Forward.

"You never know when your friends are going to go because there aren't the right housing options here for them to pursue the next stage of life."

A commissioner since November 2014, Downing said in the letter that the city has failed to move the dial on housing. Stating that her own recommendations to the City Council have gone nowhere, she outlined some of the ways in which the housing supply might be expanded in order to "make a dent in the jobs-housing imbalance that causes housing prices throughout the Bay Area to spiral out of control."

She mentioned "small steps like allowing two floors of housing instead of one in mixed-used developments," as well as legalizing duplexes, streamlining restrictions on granny units and "enforcing minimum-density requirements" so that developers will "build apartments instead of penthouses." Housing should be allowed, she wrote, above shops and offices in single-use areas like the Stanford Shopping Center.

"Kate does a good job summarizing the challenges we're facing as a community,"' said Councilman Cory Wolbach. "To say that Palo Alto has been slow to add housing is a very accurate statement.

"There's nothing shocking here," he added, in regard to Downing's letter. "Palo Alto certainly does not encourage high-density, smaller, more reasonably priced units. It's unfortunate but true."

Palo Alto "is not the family-oriented community it used to be," Downing said. In her estimation, it's becoming a place for "jet-setting executives and investors" who have neither the time or inclination to help out with block parties or join Neighborhood Watch.

"Young people are not moving here anymore. It used to be a place of innovation, where people created art and sculpture in their backyards or started companies in their garages. Now, it's more for people who are CEOs and executive vice presidents."

Contact Richard Scheinin at 408-920-5069, read his stories at \\'\\'"\\ .mcrcur ~ nt: '-'V . .\ .·om. richard-...,cheinin and follow him at Twittcr.co!Th Rea li ~s L meRa g .

Richard Scheinin covers residential real estate for the Bay Area News Group. He has written for GQ and Rolling Stone and is the author of Field of Screams: The Dark Underside of America's National Pastime (W.W. Page 2 of 3 Norton), a history of baseball. During his 25-plus years based at The Mercury News, his work has been submitted for Pulitzer Prizes for reporting on religion, classical music and jazz. He shared in the Pulitzer Prize awarded to the Mercury News staff for coverage of the Lorna Prieta earthquake. He has profiled hundreds of public figures, from Ike Turner to Tony La Russa.

Source: http:// www .eastbaytimes. com/ 2016/ 08/ 10/ pa lo-a Ito-pia nn ing-co mmiss ion er-qu its-over-h igh-housing-cost/

Page 3 of 3 Item 6.a.(22) mte §an 1liego tlnion~(Lribunc August 10, 2016, 2:44 PM

San Diego rent increases fastest at the bottom

By Phillip Molnar . Contact Reportl'r

The median rent at the bottom rung of the San Diego County apartment market rose nearly 16 percent faster in the last year than the market as a whole, said a new study from real estate website Zillow.

Eleven percent of new construction since 2014 has been at the low-end, but high-end has accounted for 64 percent of building- leading to more competition for cheaper places.

The study illustrates tension between builders, who say they need to construct high-end units to pay for permits and regulations, and housing advocates pushing for more options across all income levels.

At the same time, there continues to be no shortage of renters who are willing to pay for luxury apartments.

Zillow chief economist Svenja Gudell said it makes sense for builders to maximize profits but it's important for planners to think of housing at the lower or mid-level. "We can still stand to build more at every price point," she said .

Zillow defined the bottom third of apartments, which they called "low-end," in San Diego as having a monthly rent of anything under $1,950; middle $1,951 to $2,389; and high-end $2,390 and up. Rent prices as a whole went up about 6 percent from June 2015 to June 2016, but the low-end zoomed up 21.7 percent.

Page 1 of 3 Borre Wicke I, CEO of the local Building Industry Association, said developers must pay high fees for variances, parking, water and sewer, schools, open space, affordable housing and the latest energy requirements. All that adds up to little wiggle room on final rental cost, he said .

"It's not that builders are voluntarily not building for the middle of the market. It's that they can't," Winckel said.

San Diego County's lowest-income renters spend 69 percent of income on rent, said the latest report from the California Housing Partnership Corp. It said the median rent had increased 32 percent since 2000 while median renter household income, adjusted for inflation, had declined 2 percent.

Matt Schwartz, CEO of California Housing Partnership Corp., said curbing regulations in California may not mean builders will decide to build more low-end units.

"If your goal is to make money, you're probably always going to chose the biggest margin you can," he said . "If you got rid of a bunch of regulation, how much do we think builders would then lower their prices to make it affordable for people at 50 to 60 percent of median (income)? No, they would take the profit."

Schwartz acknowledged there is a market for high-end apartments and thousands of Californians seem to have no problem shelling out cash for them. Yet, he said what concerns housing advocates is everyone can battle for a cheap apartment but only a few can fight for high-end units.

"The competition at the low-end is just fierce," he said.

Vacancy rates at San Diego County apartments in March were higher at the top than the bottom, according to a re ntal report from MarketPoi nte Realty Advisors. Apartments less than $1,400 a month had a vacancy rate of less t han 1 percent, but units costing more than $1,900 had rates higher than 5 percent.

The partnership and others are eagerly waiting word on Gov. Je rry Brown's plan to streamline housing developments and allocate $400 million for housing subsidies. It has run into opposition from environmental and tenants groups because of the proposal's plan to strip away some environmental review, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Page 2 of 3 Although the t rend highlighted by Zillow seems like a natural occurrence, - like, of course, new construction will be high-end and cost much more- San Diego builders' drive for pricier units is sti ll outpacing some cities.

Since 2014, San Diego has built more high-end units a percentage of new apartments than Dallas, St. Louis, Denver, San Francisco, Wash ington, D. C. and Los Angeles, Zillow sa id.

But, seven other cities are even more focused on high-end, including Tampa, which built 93.1 pe rcent as high-end or Chicago with 79.2 percent.

San Diego's low-end rent increases were the fourth highest compared to 14 other cities. Sacramento's low-end rent increased 32.7 percent, Los Angeles went up 27.5 percent and San Francisco up 24.6 percent. St. Louis' low-income units went up the least at 5.5 percent.

Shamus Roller, executive di rector of Housing California, said the burden on low-income renters is a function of other factors besides builders.

He said money for subsidized housing has decreased at the federal and state levels, not enough housing is being built, and opposition to building new hou sing remains a factor in most suburban construction.

"The last development anyone wants to see is the one they move into," Roller joked. [email protected] (619) 293-1891 Twitter: @phillipmolnar

Source: http://www. sandiegouniontribune.com/business/real-estate/sdut-low-income-rent-lack-2016aug10-story.html

Page 3 of 3 SAN FRANCISCO BUSINESS TIMES Item 6.a.(23)

REAL ESTATE INC. San Francisco rental growth slows, landlords offer incentives ~ug 11, 20]6, 6:27am PDT Updated.'\ug 17,2016, 3:12pm PDT

By Richard Procter, Contributor, San Francisco Business Times

While San Francisco rents continue to rise, theire doing so slower than last year.

Rents within the city increased 5.5 percent year-over-year in June, as opposed to 16.4 percent for June 2015, reported Yahoo Finance, citing new Zillow data.

The vie\\-" from Solaire at 299 Fremont. \·d lich has tried offe ring free rem and storage space in an ef£011 to lure more renters to irs doors.

"Listings that once rented in just two to three weeks can now take two to three months to rent," Sky box Realty Principal Broker Paul Hwang told Yahoo. The slowdown in rental growth has spurred some apartment landlords to create new ways to entice renters into their dens.

Page 1 of 2 According to Yahoo, 340 Fremont is offering six weeks of free rent; Solaire (299 Fremont Street) is offering four weeks of free rent, free on-site storage and $1,000 discounts to renters from certain tech companies; and 399 Fremont has tried to bring in renters by giving away bikes.

Yahoo attributes the slowdown and incentives to an increase in tech layoffs in 2016. While layoffs may have increased, tech salaries continue to rise, the Business Times reported in June.

The woes for landlords may not get better.

In a separate report, San Francisco will increase its apartment stock by more than it has in the last 10 years, reports Curbed.

That report is based on an estimate by RENTCafe, which suggests San Francisco's apartment stock will increase by 9,362 units by the end of this year. For contrast, the city added 4,144 in 2015 and 4, 7 46 in 20 14, according to Curbed.

RENTcafe's estimate considers construction occurring in the "San Francisco metro area," according to Curbed, which may inflate the number somewhat. Paragon Real Estate Group expects 4,100 new apartments in the city of San Francisco, according to a spring report.

Richard Procter is an intern for the San Francisco Business Times.

Source: http:/ /www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2016/08/san-francisco-rental-growth-slows-so laire­ zillow.html

Page 2 of 2 Item 6.a.(24)

Senate Candidate Swanson Looks at Negative Impact of Costa-Hawkins Act

Sandre Swanson

By Tu li a Ospina Posted August 12, 2016 2:32pm

Former Assembly Member Sandre Swanson, who is running for State Senate District 9, is examining the way state laws undermine the availability of affordable housing in the East Bay as he campaigns to become an elected senator in November.

Swanson says he is committed to tackling the California housing and displacement crisis, which especially impact Oakland, Berkeley and Richmond.

He says he has concerns about the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, a 21-year old state law that prohibits cities from adopting rent control on rental properties built after 1983.

"We have to address Costa-Hawkins at this point forward," said Swanson in an interview with the Post, referring to cities such as Oakland's skyrocketing rent prices.

Page 1 of 2 "With 60 percent of Oakland residents renting , it's quite a challenge today for people to live in th e communities they were born in , and people who want to stay should have a right to do that," he said.

Swanson says that if he is elected to the State Senate, his office will be involved in facilitating public forums about the state's rerit law and bringing community voices to the state level so that legislators can begin to make necessary changes to the existing law.

According to Swanson, cities across the state have reacted negatively to Costa-Hawkins, as is evidenced by untamed rental markets and cities and counties pushing bond measures to address their local displacement crises.

"I think that we have too many properties exempt (from rent control) , and that is a very critical aspect of the problem," he said.

Last month , the Oakland City Council voted unanimously to support a resolution urging state lawmakers and Governor Jerry Brown to repeal or modernize Costa-Hawkins.

And in 2013 , legislators voted to change the law, but the bill was ultimately vetoed by Gov. Brown .

Swanson wants to ensure that everybody's voice is heard in the rental law conversation, recognizing that many small mom-and-pop property owners are protected by their exemption from Costa-Hawkins.

"The purpose of the forum and open discussion is to air the pros and cons of this housing law," said Swanson.

Source: http:/ /postnewsg roup .com/blog/2 0 16/08/12/sen ate-candidate-swanson-looks-negative-impact -costa-hawkins­ acU

Page 2 of 2 ~ndybay- San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center . Item 6.a.(25)

Rent increases in least expensive apartments show need for rent control

Massive rent increases in the least expensive rental markets and apartments reveal why there is a real need for strong renter protections including real rent control, and just cause eviction protections to help stabilize families, and our communities! by Lynda Carson (tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com) Sunday Aug 14th, 2016 3:57 PM Oakland - According a recent report from Zumper rents in Oakland are the fifth highest in the nation with one bedroom prices rising 11.6% on the year to $2,210 per month, and two bedrooms rising 13.8% on the year to $2,730 per month to rent. Rents in Oakland have been rising, but are still behind San Francisco, New York, NY, Boston, and San Jose.

Massive rent increases in the least expensive rental markets and apartments reveal why there is a real need for strong renter protections including real rent control, and just cause eviction protections to help stabilize families, and our communities. In contrast, most landlord supported rental protections and so-called renter protections being promoted by the City Council of Alameda and Mountain View, are too weak to protect families from escalating high rents, and displacement of families from their apartments, due to no-cause evictions.

As much as greedy landlords living in very fancy homes may snivel and complain about renter protections, some recent reports from Zillow and the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), reveal why rent control and just cause eviction protections are needed to offer stability to families being exploited by greedy landlords, and slumlords.

According to one recent report from Zillow, "The majority of all new construction built since 2014 has been at the top of the market in large markets analyzed by Zillow. The lack of supply among the least expensive third of rental homes and overall strong demand for rentals is driving up rents. Rents among the cheapest apartments are outpacing the growth of the entire rental market in 15 major markets analyzed by Zillow. Over the past year, 11 of the 15 housing markets in Zillow' s analysis saw double-digit rent appreciation among low-end apartments. As with most things in economics, the explanation for the differences in appreciation among bottom- and top­ tier apartment rents boils down to supply and demand. Demand for lower-end rentals has been booming at the same time as new supply has been slow to materialize."

As much as the landlords and the California Apartment Association (CAA) may try to hoodwink the public into believing that renter protections are bad, the statements made in the above mentioned report by Zillow clearly demonstrate the need for strong renter protections, including real rent control, and just cause eviction protections to help stabilize families, and our communities.

Page 1 of 2 In an additional report from Zi llow, it states: "Renters making the U.S. median income and looking to rent the typical rental home nationwide should expect to devote 30.1 percent of their income to rent as of Q 1, up from 29.8 percent at the end of2015 and well above historic norms of25.8 percent. Roughly one-third of American households that rent their home. And for them, the affordability situation is plain bad- and getting worse.

As ofthe end ofQ1, renters making the U.S. median income and looking to rent the typical rental home nationwide should expect to devote 30.1 percent oftheir income to rent, up from 29.8 percent at the end of 2015 and 29.6 percent a year ago and well above historic norms of 25.8 percent. Of the 35 largest metro markets nationwide included in this analysis, rental affordability today is worse than it was historically in all but two­ Pittsburgh (24.8 percent currently vs 28.3 percent historically) and Sacramento (31.2 percent vs 31 .7 percent). Nationwide, the least affordable large rental markets include Los Angeles (47.6 percent of income needed to afford the typical rental home), San Francisco (46 percent) and Miami (43.9 percent). The most affordable rental markets in Ql 20 16 included St. Louis (23 .6 percent), Pittsburgh (24.8 percent) and Detroit (25.1 percent)."

As the rents are rapidly rising in Oakland and other cities around the Bay Area, the above mentioned additional report from Zillow clearly reveals that there is a real need for renter protections, including strong rent control, and just cause eviction protections in the Bay Area to stabilize our communities.

Further evidence of a need for renter protections including strong rent control and just cause eviction protections, may be found with the National Low-Income Housing Coalition in a recent report on how affordable housing is out of reach, for many American workers.

Renter protections are on the ballot in 6 cities in November. Tenant advocates across the Bay Area are urging renters to vote on.strong renter protections during the upcoming November elections in the cities of Oakland, Richmond, Alameda, Burlingame, San Mateo, and Mountain View. The activists are also urging people to vote against any weak proposals placed on the ballot by the City Council in Alameda, and Mountain View.

See links below to more data that reveals the need for real renter protections including strong rent control, including just cause eviction protections.

Source: https :/ /www. indybay. org/ news items/2016/08/14/ 18790095. php

Page 2 of 2 Item 6.a.{26) LOCAL GOVERNMENT'S LA City Council panel backs plan to protect renters from unscrupulous landlords

Los Angeles. City Council will soon consider a plan to help protect renters from unscrupulous landlords. (File photo by D·avid Crane/Southern California News Group)

By Dakota Smith, Los Angeles Daily News

Posted: 08117/16, 6:59PM PDT I Updated: 3 weeks, 6 days ago

When Los Angeles landlords seek to remove tenants from rent-controlled properties, they 're required by law to compensate their renters.

But in a heated housing market, some landlords simply offer a sum of cash to get the renter out. The practice is called "cash for keys," and is sometimes unethical because tenants don't get the full amount afforded to them under the law and mistakenly think they're getting a deal.

Seeking to curb the practice, a Los Angeles City Council committee on Wednesday backed a plan to create a tenant buyout notification program designed to head off unscrupulous landlords.

Page 1 of 2 Tenants' right groups and renters praised the proposed program at the hearing, saying "cash for keys" offers are targeted at immigrants and non-English speakers.

"Many tenants don't know their rights," said Carlos Aguilar, a representative fo r the Coalition for Economic Survival, "and think they have no other choice than to take that money and leave."

The proposal is City Hall's latest attempt to update the city's rent-control laws amid complaints by housing groups over a shrinking supply of affordable housing.

About 75 percent of the city's rental stock is rent-controlled, meaning landlords can't raise the rent on those units by more than 3 percent each year. Housing advocates say those units are crucial to making Los Angeles affordable for lower income and middle-class residents.

During an economic upswing, landlords more frequently seek to remove tenants and tum rental buildings into condominiums or upgrade the units. By law, they're required to buy out their tenants- paying them anywhere from $7,900-$19,700- and give them adequate time to move out.

Some renters and landlords cut fair deals, according to housing advocates, but in other cases, the landlords don't tell the tenants of the law, and instead push them out quickly by offering a sum of money.

The city's proposal is modeled after a Santa Monica ordinance, which requires a landlord to provide a renter written disclosure of the tenant's rights. Los Angeles landlords would also have to file a copy of the buyout agreement under the proposed law.

Apartment groups spoke out against the proposal at Wednesday's hearing, with Jim Clarke, a consultant with the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, calling it unnecessary.

He accused the city of"taking the side of the tenants with regards to the voluntary and private negotiations."

The proposal, which must be drafted by the Los Angeles City Attorney, now heads to the full City Council for approval.

Source: http://www.dailynews .com/government-and-politics/20160817 /la-city-council-panel-backs-plan-to-protect­ rente rs -from-unscru pu lous-la nd lords

Page 2 of 2 Item 6.a.(27) :::Cw D·~AI !_ , 'Lri y ·t '/ JOU, J .'' R~~ . ~ NALr I f- ~ . -- - --· I - -~ !'!!!>' ---- , -- · -~ The Peninsula ' s homepage

Who's weighing in on San Mateo rent control debate?

By Samantha Weigel, Daily Journal August 23, 2016, 05:00AM

With the heated debate over tenant protection measures fueled by the region's housing crisis now slated to dominate San Mateo's November election, proponents and opponents of a citizens' initiative to institute rent control outlined their ballot arguments.

Unlike Burlingame, where a similar measure also ga ined enough signatures to be placed on the ballot, the San Mateo City Council opted not to place arguments on behalf of the city as a whole. The council was divided as to whether it should publicly argue on Measure Q- "the San Mateo Community Preservation and Fair Rent Charter Amendment."

The proposal would tie rents to the consumer price index between 1 percent and 4 percent, prevent unjust evictions and create an independent housing commission to oversee implementation of the rules. It exempts new developments, single-family homes and owner-occupied duplexes, and rent control would only apply to multi-family buildings constructed before Feb. 1, 1995.

Various segments of the community remain at odds over the proposal with two councilwomen signing on to the opposition argument, a planning commissioner supporting the measure, and two key representatives with the city's homeowners' association differing in their opinions.

Opponents who submitted a ballot argument by last Friday's deadline include Maureen Freschet and Diane Papan, councilwomen who publicly spoke against the measure last week; Cheryl Angeles, CEO of the San Mateo Chamber of Commerce; Anna Kuhre, president emeritus ofthe San Mateo United Homeowners' Association; and former mayor Claire Mack.

Supporters arguing in favor include the Rev. Penny Nixon, a resident and faith leader; John Ebneter, a San Mateo planning commissioner; Ben Toy, president ofthe San Mateo United Homeowners' Association; Jennifer Martinez, executive director of Faith in Action, the organization that sponsored the ballot initiative; and community activist Rich Hedges.

Proponents call Measure Q a common sense, fair solution that will protect the city's future. They also cite exceptions allowing for rents to be increased to cover maintenance costs, exempting "mom-and-pop" landlords by not applying to owner-occupied duplexes or in-law units, and rolling back base rents for applicable properties to September 2015.

They argue the council has been unable to find a meaningful solution while the city's high rents affect everyone by making it difficult to retain teachers, nurses, restaurant workers and essential public safety personnel.

"Measure Q makes housing costs predictable and stable, freeing San Mateo residents from constant fear of losing their homes. Rents have skyrocketed in recent years. Wages have not kept pace, putting profound stress on our community. As we lose our family and community members, we lose San Mateo's quality of life," according to the argument in favor.

Similar to concerns Freschet and Papan raised du'l'ing last week's council meeting and as in Burlingame's opposition argument, opponents cite the impact to the city government and finances as concerns, and contend it would not solve t he affordability crisis. They note the housing commission would not be not accountable to the council or an elected body, and it could need a $2.5 million annual budget while requiring 10 full-time employees. They also co ntend rent control would mandate privately-funded subsidies to tenants that aren't actually in need.

Page 1 of 2 " Do n't be fooled into believing t hat Measure Q will so lve the hous ing crisis or that there will be no cost to the city and t axpayers. Measure Q will drive up rents and make housing unaffordable. The unlimited power given to this unaccountable commission is dangerous and will have untended consequences, damaging to our city an d all residents," according to the argument against.

Neither the San Mateo County Association of Realtors, which is soliciting donations to fight t he San Mateo and Burlingame campaigns, nor the California Apartment Association signed on to the ballot opposition. However, both are expected to campaign against it.

Rebuttal arguments, as well as an expected impartial analysis prepared by t he city attorney, are due Monday, Aug. 29, and will be included in the San Mateo voters' elections materials.

Visit shapethefuture.org for more information about Measure Q and to read the arguments. [email protected] (650) 344-5200 ext. 106

Source: http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2016-08-23/whos-weighing-in-on-san -mateo-rent-control­ debate/1776425167070.html#sthash.a2nAZG9U.dpuf

Page 2 of 2 Item 6.a.(28)

Ruling expected to favor low-income residents of Oakland hotel

By Rachel Swan August 23, 2016 Updated: August 23,2016 8:11pm

Tenants cook breakfast in the communal kitchen of a residential hotel. The Oakland city attorney's suit says owners have ruined living conditions.

It's a crumbling residential hotel on Eighth Street in downtown Oakland, with graffiti sprayed on its walls and cream-colored paint chipping from its brick facade. But to dozens oflow-income Chinese immigrants, it's home.

Now, Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker is fighting to keep 34 immigrant households there months after the hotel owners began destroying the communal bathrooms and kitchen, Parker says, ruining the building's interior as a ploy to boot out longtime tenants and jack up rents- all in the name of gentrification.

The property owners also seized Lunar New Year decorations from tenants' doors and neglected necessary repairs throughout the building, leaving water leaks, gashes in the windows and missing floor tiles, and allowing sheet rock to spill into the showers, according to a lawsuit filed June 17 by the

Page 1 of 3 city attorney, the housing rights law firm Sundeen Salinas & Pyle and San Francisco's Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus.

The lawsuit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, charges the hotel owners and manager with negligence, fair housing violations and elder abuse. Such behavior represents the ugly side of Oakland's hot real estate market, according to Parker. In a June 30 statement to media, she said the building owners had "publicly expressed" their desire to attract a "new demographic," including tech workers.

In a tentative ruling last week favoring the tenants, Judge Brad Seligman rejected the defendants' assertions that they did not intend to displace the residents, noting that the building owners had repeatedly offered to pay tenants to move out.

"The overall course of conduct of (the) defendants demonstrates a concerted effort by them to make the living conditions more onerous for the tenants," Seligman said in the order.

Brought on behalf of 14 tenants, the lawsuit was heard in an Oakland courtroom Tuesday afternoon, at which point the defendants' attorneys said they had agreed with the city on a construction plan for the building, but it wasn't clear what it would involve or when it would begin.

In the meantime, the plaintiffs' lawyers are still waiting for Seligman to order the demolition work to stop outright, perhaps as early as the next court hearing on Aug. 30. The judge will visit the hotel Wednesday to decide whether security cameras that the owners installed violate residents' privacy.

"We're one step closer to asserting our rights," said plaintiff Wing Fu Mah, who moved into the hotel in February 2015- before current owners James Kilpatrick, NAI Northern California/Highway Property Management and Green Group LP purchased it in September. All three owners are named in the suit, along with the hotel's manager, JaEvon Marshall.

On Jan. 13, the owners posted a notice in English, saying they would begin construction on the bathrooms and kitchen the following week, according to the court complaint. Most of the building's residents could not read the notice because they only read Chinese, the complaint said.

As a result, many were caught by surprise when a contractor arrived in February and began tearing down walls in the first- and second-floor bathrooms, leaving only wooden studs. Once the demolition

Page 2 of 3 work began, 25 households had to share two showers and three toilets. Tenants routinely wait in long lines to relieve themselves, which is particular hardship to tenant Maggie Lin, who is pregnant.

"It's difficult to go up and down the stairs to use the restroom, and there are long lines everyday," Lin told reporters outside the courthouse Tuesday.

At least one plaintiff had to defecate in a bucket in his room "to his embarrassment, shame and humiliation," the court complaint said.

Building managers also trashed the curtains and Chinese scrolls that tenants hung on their doors, as well as the tangerines they displayed on door ledges as NewYear's blessings, the lawsuit said. Attorney Katherine Chu of the Asian Law Caucus described these acts as "a campaign of harassment."

In court declarations, representatives of Green Group LP blamed some of the demolition work on the company's hired contractor, Everlast Construction, saying it had mistakenly torn down walls in the second-floor bathrooms when it was supposed to demolish only some bathrooms on the first floor. Everlast was fired June 30 and a new contractor, Reed Construction, began work July 18, according to Thomas Kerbleski, a senior acquisitions analyst with Lakeside Investment Co., which is a partner of Green Group LP. Kerbleski denied that the building owners had acted in bad faith.

Representatives of Everlast Construction were not available for comment.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected]

Source: http://www .sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Ruling-expected-to-favor-low-income-residents-of- 9180622.php?t=af3e1e7f617d4f3860&cmpid=twitter-premium

Page 3 of 3 California fidgets while hollSing shortage grows

By Dan Walters California has an im­ mense shortage of hous­ ing, and every day it gets worse, because we're not building enough to keep up with even a modest level of popUlation growth. The shortage has driven housing costs through the roof, especially for work­ ing-class atld poor families, and is atop the list of Cal­ ifornia's truly important Gov. Jerry Brown proposed a small step toward alleviating issues, along with water the housing shortage- exempting certain projects from and transportation. some of the red tape that plagues the industry. However, as with those other deficiencies, another ing the money would be an rent investors" gobbling legiSlative session will end unmistakable signal that up houses by outbidding soon without decisive hous- he wasn't serious about individual buyers is a big . ing action. housing reform. housing factor. It would Gov. Jerry Brown pro­ So if Brown's proposal create a state task force to posed a baby step toward investigate such purchases alleviating the housing ·as a precursor to "mean­ shortage - exempting The squeeze ingful legislative action certain projects from some that will help alleviate the of the red tape that plagues is especially pressing concern of risirig the housing development home prices." . . industry. acute mooastru. There are many factors He tied adoption to metropolitan in the state's failure to spending $400 million supply enough housing, but on low-income housrng, areas. corporate home purchase in hopes of overcoming isn't one of them. Relative · opposition from local is dead, at least for this to the state's irrimense government officials, year, what else is on the housing market, such · environmental groups and horizon? puJ'chases are minuscule, labor unions. However, it The Senate has voted to If anything, they increase didn't appear that Brown place a $3 billion housing supply by repairing other­ was putting his full weight bond issue before voters, wise uninhabitable wtits behind his proposal, and butwhenttreachedthe and making them available the fierce opposition cowed Assembly, the Appropria­ .to home-seeking families. legislators. Last week, tions Committee delayed a · As Legislative Analyst Democratic Assembly vote until2018 - and it's Mac Taylor has told legis~ Speaker Anthony Rendon uncertain whether it can lators, California's housing pronounced Brown's pro­ muster the required two­ problem is that too little is posal "dead." thirds Assembly vote even . being built. . "I don't think there's with the delay. The squeeze is espe­ any support in our'caucus . · Meanwhile, legislators cially acute in coastal for the ... proposal as the have pirrsued ·several bills metropolitan areas, where . architecture was rendered that nibble at the edges of local not-in-iny:backyard by the governor," Rendon the housing crisis, such as opponents and m,isguided said. legislation allowing second environmental groups take · As discussions col­ units to be built on residen­ advantage of complex plan­ lapsed, a coalition of ~beral tial lots. But not all housing ning, zoning and environ­ groups, including some measwes are positive. mental laws. That)s what that had opposed Brown's One example is Assem­ Brown's proposal sought to plan, publicly urged Brown bly Bill2282, carried by As­ mitigate. · to spend the $400 million semblyman Ian Calderon, anyway. He didn't respond, D-Whittier, which implies Dan Walters is a at least publicly, but releas- that "large-scale buy-to- Sacramento Bee columnist. BAY AREA NEWS GROUP Ill WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24.2016

. ·. ~:/ · ~· ~ ··. : .· ::./ ... ·· MORE LOCAL NEWS Ill W,WW.EASTBAYTttylES.COM ···. . · ... ··::.::· .: - :.•. .·, ..

:c•. M'' .. {' : • ~ ..

Oakland hotel n~si~,~nts wait in~ lo .~~:,,iQes :~~ 9s~Mt~ilet : · · _; : Rel; illf .··.·•·· i ·lt8~iji!J' ··· for . te·nants? .• vestors had plaris ·to renovate from what they say is ari ag- . owners to complete construc­ Building owner accused qf the lovHEmt, · single-;resident gressive campaign by the own-· tion of the ·. bathrooms ·and a creating hardship to force occupancy hotel and convert ers to force them out by making common kitchen. out low-income elderly it into studios. catering to stu­ the premises · .uninhabitable . . Asthe tenants sat in the back demts;andtech workers~ That included demoliShing four · - rows, Seligman said . he would But there were already peo.:C shared bathrooms more than Visit the hotel Wednesday after­ ple living in the building.at 524 siX months ago, creating a ma­ .noon to assess the condition.s for By Tam.merlin Drummond Eighth Street. Most .. of · them jor· hardship for tenants. who himself. The judge issued a ten­ [email protected] are poor Chinese immigrants, have had to stand in long lihes tative order last week requiring many seniors who speak little to use the toilet. . · the landlords to immediately OAKLAND - When the or no English...... · ·Judge Brad Seligman post- . repair the bathrooms, which Green Group, LP, bought the · . Ori Tuesday, 14 ·. of the ten­ poned making a final ruling on according to court records had Fremont in Oakland's . China~ ants were in Alameda: ·Co'imty the tenants' request for a pre-; town nearly a year ago, the in- Superior Court seeking relief liminacy irijurtction to force the See Tenants on Page 2 ~ 3 s­ ~. Y~ l o{ L '§' ~ 82 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 000 WEDNIESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016

Tenants attorneys ·. s~id · ~h~w· had Katherine fully defended a tenant reached an agreement... on . Chu, right cit . who had withheld his rent Continued from Page 1 the p~rn,I!ts thSlt V\lould al­ . . the Asian Law in protest an<;i ·was facing low constrilctiori to resume. . Cautus, leads eviction . .Lane said he not . . In 'court ., ' doduments, tenarits seeking ' only won his case, the jury been gutted to the studs. the 9wnets.denied the ten~ a preliminary also ordered that his rent In that ruling, Seligman ants! · harassment · claims injunction against be reduced to nothing until called the owners.' actions and blamed both the City's the owner's of a conditions at the property "unbelievably callous" and building and' plarini:ng de­ building accused .· frnproved. ·· · · ordered · .investor James partmeilt and a preVious of ·making the . "I ' have never seen a Kilpatrick and his co-defen- contractor, who has been low'- income landlord so aggressively dants to cease all efforts to . fired, for the bathroom con­ residential hotel and ·deliberately make a coerce tenants into.leaving. . struction delays. , uninhabjtable, property uninhabitable for The judg~ also banne-d th~ ··Yet. both the judge and · .Jht,JS' dl-iving out the purposes of driving a landlords froni remoVing the tenant$' aijprneys . re:: .. the mostly elderly tenant out," Lane said. the tenants' persoriiil. prop- · :jected thQse Claims andsrud · ·· Asian tenc:lnts. Alex Katz, a spokesman erty from common areas the owners. had not hired for the City Attorney Bar­ and ordered the ;removal of another contra~tor to . re- · DAN HONDA/STAFF bara Pwk;er,· said one ofthe surveillance cameras that sume the work until after goals of the lawsuit was to tenants say violate their pri~ the preliminary injunction· . Tuesday. . city of Oakland, the number ''Their j obs. arid their ·send a message to landlords vacy. was filed in June. Fremont is one of Oak- ofSRO rooms had declined community are ·here," she who violate Oakland's ten­ The judge said there was The lawsuit was filed on land's few remaining single- from 2,285 in 2004, to a little sa.iq.. "They'd, pe hard­ ant protection laws. "strong circumstantial :evi"' behalf of the tenants by the occupancy hotels that serve over 1,300 last year. pressed to find anythipg else · "These types of issues dence that the owners of the Asian Law Caucus; attor-. the lowest-income .. people . Katherine Chu, a staff affordable in Chinatown." keep coming up, not just in buildingwantedto force the ney Robert Salinas and the who would otherwise ·. be attorney for the Asian Law Laura Lane, director· of SROs," . Katz · said. ''We're tenants out or make condi- city of Oakland. ·homeless. The buildings' Caucus, said the tenants .. at the housing practice at the in this housing .crisis a..nd tions so bad, they would vol- . "I'll be thankful that we prime locations in· or near the Fremont Hotel have no East Bay Community Law there's just a lot of specula- untarily leave/' . . · won't have to wait in long downtown and next to . place elseto go. People who Center, said the nonprofit _tion going on." · City . inspectors found lines anymore," said tenant . transportation, bars and . have lived in Chinatown was contacted by the ten­ that work had been done Wing Fuh M:ili.- . restaurants have made most of their lives and don't ants with concerns about Contact Tammerlin beyond what was allowed Kate Morrow, the attor- them attractive investment speak English or drive can't conditions at the property Drummond at 510-208-6468. in the permit. And in court ney representing the Green properties. According to a · just pick up and move any­ earlier this year. She said Follow her at '!Witter. com/ Tuesday, city officials and Group, declined to comment September report by the where. the law center · success- Tamrri'erlin. ·

·\'~~ 2o~ 2,