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HUD housing programs at risk locally and across the nation
January 26, 2013
Massive spending cuts to the nation’s federal housing programs are scheduled to go into effect on March 1, 2013, threatening thousands of low-income families in Oakland and other Bay Area cities with higher rent than they can pay. Additionally, several hundred thousand or more low-income families all across the nation could lose their vouchers.
Congress pushes to deregulate public housing authorities across the nation
June 11, 2012
With corruption running rampant on Wall Street and in the nation’s lending institutions and housing industry, millions of homeowners are facing foreclosure as a direct result. Matters are only getting worse as members of Congress and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are pushing to deregulate the nation’s more than 3,000 public housing authorities.
Nonprofit housers mourn demise of redevelopment agencies
January 11, 2012
The unanimous California Supreme Court ruling Dec. 29 in support of a state law to abolish redevelopment agencies throughout California has so-called nonprofit housing developers in mourning, as more than 400 redevelopment agencies will close their doors after Feb. 1, 2012, as a result.
Massive budget cuts may result in billionaire buying Berkeley’s public housing
December 13, 2011
With tens of thousands of protesters from the Occupy movement hitting the streets in Oakland, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and cities all across the nation demonstrating against the brutal on-going budget cuts and social inequality leaving families in the cold and hungry, massive budget cuts continue to devastate public housing and the nation’s social programs.
92-year-old Oakland woman fights eviction by wealthy Danville man
November 3, 2011
At 92 years of age, Katherine Smith of 993 54th St. is a frail elderly woman who lives alone in North Oakland, in a house that currently does not have any hot water. She is struggling against an eviction by a wealthy Danville man named Robert Rasheed, who is trying to evict her from her long-time home onto the cold, mean streets of Oakland.
Billionaire may buy Berkeley’s occupied public housing
October 16, 2011
In another step to privatize Berkeley’s 75 occupied public housing town-homes, billionaire Stephen M. Ross, CEO and founder of The Related Companies and 95 percent owner of the Miami Dolphins, is in talks with the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) to buy Berkeley’s occupied public housing through one of his companies.
Housing authorities prepare for Section 8 housing cuts
August 9, 2011
Local housing authorities across the nation are preparing for major cuts to HUD’s Section 8 housing voucher programs after being directed in June by HUD to come up with lists to prioritize which voucher recipients would be dumped in the event of major cuts to the subsidized housing program.
Wealthy slumlord pleads guilty to solicitation of arson
July 12, 2011
In a plea agreement on June 22, 2011, before U.S. Magistrate Claudia Wilken, wealthy slumlord millionaire, Tiburon resident and criminal defendant Richard Earl Singer, pleaded guilty to one count of solicitation to commit arson at Oakland’s low-income residential Menlo Hotel and was remanded back into custody of the U.S. Marshal.
Marin Way Court tenants targeted for displacement
June 4, 2011
The tenants of Marin Way Court in Oakland have been targeted for displacement. “David Silver and Jamie Clifford of Arroyo & Coates have tried to destroy our community ever since they took over Marin Way Court on May 2, 2011,” Aiyahnna Johnson said.
Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget cuts devastate the disabled, poor, sick and elderly
April 3, 2011
Oakland voters who thought they would be spared catastrophic budget cuts by voting for the Democrats and Oakland’s Jerry Brown feel abandoned and double-crossed by the latest round of budget cuts supported by Democrats.
San Francisco cops’ illegal searches caught on video
March 11, 2011
San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced that surveillance videos from the Henry Hotel reveal that San Francisco Police Department narcotics officers falsified police reports in order to justify searching residences without warrants or consent at the low-income residential hotel.
Wealthy Menlo Hotel owner charged with arson scam is back in court
January 31, 2011
The wealthy Tiburon owner of Oakland’s low-income residential Menlo Hotel has been arrested and is facing 10 years in prison on suspicion of hiring someone to burn down the hotel, according to officials with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Cops entrap Justice for Oscar Grant marchers: two eyewitness accounts
November 10, 2010
I was swept up and arrested Friday night in Oakland at the end of the Justice for Oscar Grant march. As usual, most Bay Area TV stations gave a factually awful – very pro-police – spin to what happened.
PETRA promotes doom for public housing
October 6, 2010
On Sept. 27, 2010, activists and public housing residents gathered in front of the Los Angeles Housing Authority Commission to protest the agency’s 2011 plan to privatize 15 large public housing projects.
Save public housing: Oppose PETRA
June 9, 2010
The Obama administration is pushing hard to privatize our nation’s 1.2 million public housing units, which would put public housing residents at risk of displacement and homelessness.
Conflict of interest corrupts Berkeley’s public housing privatization scheme
May 27, 2010
“They are trying to find any way possible to evict us.” “I’m under pressure to accept a Section 8 voucher, which I do not want because I will have to pay more for rent than I do currently, and I’m only getting unemployment at the moment.” “There is nothing wrong with my home. It may need to be painted, but I can live around that, and there is no reason to force me out of my home. I want to stay and raise my kids.”
Berkeley public housing residents were not informed of their rights
April 12, 2010
The Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) did not inform its public housing residents that they are protected by Berkeley’s good cause rent laws that state it is not a good cause to evict when a landlord – including the BHA – wants to sell an occupied residential rental property in Berkeley.
Berkeley public housing tenants demand resignations
January 23, 2010
Public housing and Section 8 tenants appeared at the Jan. 19 Berkeley City Council meeting to protest and speak out against alleged illegal activities of the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) and its policies to privatize and sell their 75 public housing units to an unnamed nonprofit housing developer.
Greed fuels demand for project based vouchers by nonprofit developers
October 28, 2009
The Oakland Housing Authority recently released a “Public Notice of Project Selection for Participation in the Project-Based Voucher Program” that may have set in motion a frenzy of greed by nonprofit housing developers wanting to maximize their profits.
Stealing public housing from Oakland’s poor
September 30, 2009
Currently, the OHA contracts with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide public housing to low-income households in Oakland and is reimbursed by HUD at around $500 per unit on a monthly basis. But under the new Section 8 model being promoted to end public housing, the OHA and their affiliates may be reimbursed by HUD for as much as $900 to $1,000 for the same rental units if the plan works out to their way of thinking. Unfortunately for the poor, this scheme results in the loss of Oakland’s desperately needed public housing units, and in the future public housing will be one less option for the homeless needing a place to call home.