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by Isabel Estrada/PoorNewsNetwork Youth in the media intern (title by Barbara Jameson)
The evening light dimmed as I waited in Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in Oakland. I noticed a contrast in the people who passed me. Many caught my attention with the brightness in their eyes and then nodded as their lips curled upward into a
half moon. Sometimes they said "hello" or "how you doing". Then there were
the others. They walked briskly, tight-jawed, chin leading the way. Their
pointed shoes invaded the soft air. One hand clutched at a bunch of papers
while the other swings back and forward with superfluous determination on the
other side. They didn't smile at anyone and as far as I could see, had no
brightness to their eyes.
Those gathered on the steps of Oakland City Hall on Wednesday, November 5th at 5 p.m. were of the former group. We were all there to protest a new proposal
from the Rent Board Task Force that would remove the 3% cap on annual rent
increases which is currently the law, though often evaded, in Oakland.
Instead rents would have to coincide with the Consumer Price Index or CPI.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor
defines its Index as "a measure of the average change over time in the prices
paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services."
As an answer to the question of whether CPI measures each individual's
experience with price change, the Bureau writes: "Not necessarily. It is
important to understand that BLS [Bureau of Labor Statistics] bases the
market baskets and pricing procedures for the CPI-U and CPI-W on the
experience of the relevant average household, not on any specific family or
individual. It is unlikely that your experience will correspond precisely
with either the national indexes or those for specific cities or regions."
Simply in meeting CPI standards, the annual rent increase in Oakland could
rise to 6.3%. Then, to make matters worse, through Banked Rent Increases,
which allow landlords who have not increased the rent annually for three
years to make up the difference in one year, rents could increase by more
than eighteen per cent from one year to the next.
The proposal was first brought up in a City Council meeting held by Oakland
council member Dick Spees on March 25th 2001. The Task force is made up of
three landlords and Rick Phillips with the Rental Housing Association, three
Realtors, some Oakland City Officials, a lobbyist for the Oakland Realtors
Association (ORA), and James Vann of the Oakland Tenants Union. The proposal
will be discussed in the city council meeting at 7 p.m. on December 11th.
Anyone can speak on the issue but must arrive early and sign up. The actual
vote will take place at the city council meeting on December 18th at 7 p.m.
If approved, the bill will go into effect January 1st of 2002.
Any possible reason why this index should indicate rental prices in Oakland,
California completely eludes me, especially considering the following
limitations that the Bureau itself admits. "The CPI is subject to both
limitations in application and limitations in measurement‚ CPI does not
produce official estimates for the rate of inflation experienced by subgroups
of the population, such as the elderly or the poor".
The CPI cannot be used as a measure of total change in living costs because
changes in these costs are affected by changes (such as social and
environmental changes and changes in income taxes) that are beyond the
definitional scope of the CPI and so are excluded."
The first person to smile at me and ask if I was waiting for the rally was
Ms. Scott, a radiant, formerly homeless woman who became a permanent member
of Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS) in 1997, working as a
community builder and activist. BOSS was founded over thirty years ago by
boona cheema to facilitate the transition of homeless and formerly homeless
people into permanent housing. Scott tells me that BOSS provides such
services as transitional housing, shelters, resources, referrals as well as
mental health, alcohol and drug outreach. If the three per cent cap on rent
increases were to be removed it would be virtually impossible for BOSS to do
its work. BOSS generally serves people whose annual income is around 15,000
per year - barely enough to cover current Oakland rents and certainly not
enough to cover an eighteen per cent rent increase.
Kendra Wilson, also a member of BOSS knows all about greedy landlords and
corrupt politicians. As she speaks I am caught by her large, expressive
eyes. A native of East Oakland, Kendra has lived there all her 27 years.
She is currently involved in a court case against her former landlord, Jerry
Curtis, the Deputy Attorney General for the state of California. The tenants
in her former apartment building had been complaining to Curtis about
problems with the roof for months before it actually flew off of the building
in October of 2000. It was only after it had blown off completely that
Curtis sent in the roofers to fix the problem. As it was the rainy season,
the tenants' belongings were ruined during the time that they had no roof.
The city of Oakland said that it was dangerous for the tenants to live under
such conditions and so ordered them to move out until the roof was fixed.
All the tenants complied. However once the roof was fixed Curtis changed the
locks, raised the prices and rented out the rooms to new tenants, making all
the legal tenants homeless. This is only one example of the illegal actions
constantly performed by Oakland landlords.
As the rally begins I see a man step into the circle holding a sign that
reads, "The American Dream is not exclusive, everyone deserves housing." One
speaker is mayoral candidate Wilson Riles Jr. He calls the proposals of the
Rent Board Task Force, "socio-economic cleansing." He speaks of how those
who make Oakland unique, the students and low-income folks, are going to be
the ones "pushed out." Rob Rooke, a member of City Council went on to talk
of the hypocrisy of our government. While it doesn't want to provide $18
million for affordable housing, it gladly gives a $572 million dollar bailout
to the gasoline company Chevron. He asks why the government is pouring
billions into bombing Afghanistan, supposedly to "protect freedom" and yet
can't even feed the 1 in 5 children that go hungry in the United States.
Geneve Allison, a doctor at Highland Hospital in Oakland wrote up a petition
in favor of keeping the 3% rent cap that was then signed by 14 other doctors
and health care workers. An excerpt from the petition reads, "As
professional members of the community, we see the effects of high rents upon
an economically vulnerable population of workers, children, elderly, and
disabled people. On a daily basis we witness the crisis in health that
people experience when their housing situation is unstable. Lack of
affordable housing can become an insurmountable barrier to maintaining basic
health, while the stress of a personal housing crisis can greatly exacerbate
chronic medical conditions."
Gerald Burton also spoke, while his son stood quietly next to him. They live
in Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. Their bed is hard concrete, in the middle of a
cluster of benches. Burton recounted how he was recently hit by an AC
transit bus. Because he is homeless and poor, the lawyer for AC Transit
denied that he even had a case. He used to live in an SRO until he was
kicked out. Now he will be able to get a welfare check for disability, but
even with that he will never even have a chance of acquiring permanent
housing if landlords are going to be allowed to raise their rents eighteen
per cent in one year. The eight pins in Gerald's hip make sleeping on the
concrete on a cold winter night in Oakland practically impossible. But for
someone like Gerald, the impossible is the only choice. Almost every night
Gerald is approached by a police woman who asks him and his son to leave
saying, "The mayor don't like you staying here."
While I wait for the Bart train at Oakland City Center I look up at a
billboard for "Spectacular Waterfront Apartments at Jack London Square." The
apartments are freshly painted, and the ultra-blue water of the community
pool sparkles like squeaky-clean glass. There are even a few scenic palm
trees sprinkled among the buildings. The sun lights up the bright scene.
But these aren't destined to house Gerald, Kendra, Ms. Scott or any other
renter in Oakland who doesn't have $1440 to pay for a one bedroom studio, or
$2495 for a two bedroom. Until the CPI/less shelter formula is overthrown
there will be no peace for Oakland renters. Please come and show your
opposition to the CPI/less shelter proposal at the city council meetings on
the eleventh and eighteenth of December.
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