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The Epicenter of Evictions: Moving from Crisis to Solutions in Contra Costa County

1. Opening Remarks from Assemblymember Buffy Wicks
2. Tenant Experience in Court: Betty Gabaldon
3. Tenant Experience in Mediation: Jennifer Morales
4. Summary of Report and Eviction Data: Alex Werth
5. Eviction Prevention Strategies in Alameda County: Monique Berlanga
6. Eviction Prevention Strategies in San Francisco County: Hugo Ramírez

AGENDA

ASSEMBLYMEMBER �BUFFY WICKS

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks has represented the East Bay in the California State Assembly since 2018. Her district spans communities from Oakland to Richmond. As Chair of the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development, her work focuses on solutions to California’s housing crisis ranging from the production of housing to protecting tenants’ rights and everything in between. A lifelong community organizer, Asm. Wicks previously served on both of President Barack Obama’s campaigns, and worked for him in the White House. She lives in Oakland with her husband, Peter, and daughters, Jojo and Elly.�

Chair of Housing Committee

CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 15

BETTY GABALDON

Tenant Organizer in Contra Costa County

EAST BAY ALLIANCE FOR A SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY

Betty Gabaldon is a tenant organizer at the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy. She was an official tenant alternate on the Concord Residential Rent Review Panel from April 2018 to November 2018. Her personal experience with landlord harassment, retaliation, and eviction has inspired her to directly support and advocate for Concord tenants.  In 2019, she partnered with others and founded the Todos Santos Tenants Union to educate tenants about their rights and to stand up for dignity and respect.

JENNIFER MORALES

Jennifer Morales is a first generation Central American raised in the Bay Area and the lead community organizer at Monument Impact, where she focuses on organizing Concord tenants. She previously organized food service workers with Unite Here! to demand better wages, benefits, and respect in the tech and hotel industries. While she loved this work, Jennifer’s own tenant experience led her to want to organize renters to fight back against an industry that does not believe it is a human right to have a roof over one’s head.

Lead Community Organizer in Contra Costa County

MONUMENT IMPACT

ALEX WERTH

Alex Werth is the Policy and Research Advisor at East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy. He is the author of the recent report Unrepresented: A Report on Eviction Court Watch in Contra Costa County, which he is going to talk about today. Formerly the Policy Manager at East Bay Housing Organizations, he has been involved in advocating for tenants’ rights and resources in Contra Costa County since 2020. He holds a PhD in Urban Geography from UC Berkeley.

Author of Court Watch Report &  �Policy and Research Advisor

EAST BAY ALLIANCE FOR A SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY

• Contra Costa has had one of the highest eviction rates in the Bay Area during the pandemic.
• As of July ’22, Contra Costa led the region with 358 eviction filings and counting.

OVERVIEW: EVICTIONS & HOMELESSNESS IN CONTRA COSTA COUNTY

Sources:

Ethan Varian. October 20, 2022. “Bay Area Sees ‘Eviction Tsunami’ as Pandemic Renter Protections End.” San Jose Mercury News.

National Equity Atlas. August 19, 2022. Rent Debt in California: Eliminating Rent Debt and Preventing Eviction Is Key to Equitable Recovery.

• From 2019 to 2022, Contra Costa experienced the largest increase in homelessness of any Bay Area county.
• In 2020, 25% of unhoused residents in Contra Costa identified cost of living or loss of job and 17% identified eviction as their primary cause of homelessness.

OVERVIEW: EVICTIONS & HOMELESSNESS IN CONTRA COSTA COUNTY

Sources:

Lauren Hepler, Sarah Ravani, and Yoohyun Jung. May 16, 2022. “Homelessness Surged 35% in One Bay Area County.” San Francisco Chronicle.

Contra Costa County Health, Housing, and Homeless Services Division. August 2020. Contra Costa County: Annual Point in Time Count Report, p. 21.

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• Evictions disproportionately impact East and West Contra Costa County—areas with large numbers of low-income renters, immigrants, and people of color.
• In Contra Costa, ERAP applicants were 86% very low–income, 69% people of color, and 58% women.

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OVERVIEW: EVICTIONS & HOMELESSNESS IN CONTRA COSTA COUNTY

Sources:

East Bay Housing Organizations. 2022. By the Numbers: Eviction and Tenant Legal Aid in Contra Costa County.

California Department of Housing and Community Development. January 3, 2023. Housing Is Key Data Dashboard.

• The problem is exacerbated by a significant gap in tenant legal services.
• In Contra Costa, 3,500 ERAP applicants asked to be contacted by a legal services provider due to concerns about housing security that went beyond rental debt.
• But there are only…
• four legal aid organizations in Contra Costa,
• two that can serve families in Central and East County, and
• one that can serve undocumented families in Central and East County.

OVERVIEW: TENANT LEGAL SERVICES IN CONTRA COSTA COUNTY

Sources:

Data from California Department of Housing and Community Development provided by the Legal Aid Association of California.

• Of the 56 UDs observed…
• 86% of landlords were represented by an attorney as opposed to 7% of tenants.
• 41% of tenants were Black even though only 16% of renter households in Contra Costa are headed by Black residents.
• 57% of tenants were women alone.
• 50% of landlords were corporations or shell companies, rather than individuals.

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EVICTION COURT WATCH REPORT

• The legal eviction process involves tight timelines, mandatory steps, and legalistic processes.
• However, there were no in-court legal services.
• Tenants who alleged serious abuses by their landlords were evicted, regardless of the merits of their case, because they did not know how to mount their own defense.

The upshot…

• Tenants need legal services to receive due process and a chance to remain in their home.

EVICTION COURT WATCH REPORT

• Rather than invest in tenant legal services and rental assistance at scale, Contra Costa County invested in referrals for legal aid and rental assistance as well as tenant/landlord mediation.
• Tenants were not able to receive the legal assistance they needed—e.g. filling out UD answers, receiving representation—because the County contractors were barred from providing legal advice.

The upshot…

• Tenants need integrated legal aid and rental assistance programs that are designed to intervene early and either stop evictions or avert homelessness.

EVICTION COURT WATCH REPORT

• Mediators were not allowed to advise unrepresented tenants on their rights. This gave landlords, who had attorneys, the upper hand.
• Mediators did not always seek to mask evictions. In cases where tenants are forced to move, masking helps to ensure they have a chance to secure new housing and avert homelessness.

The upshot…

• Mediation is not a valid substitute for tenant legal services. While often seen as “neutral,” without equal access to representation, mediation maintains the imbalance of power between tenants and landlords.

EVICTION COURT WATCH REPORT

• In order to prevent unnecessary evictions, reduce homelessness, and advance racial and gender equity, Contra Costa County should…
• Create a tenant right to counsel.
• Invest in fast-acting rental assistance that is designed to either stop an eviction or ensure that a tenant has enough time and resources to secure new housing.
• Pass local tenant protections that are stronger than AB 1482.
• Make eviction court data a regular, recurring, and transparent part of the policy- making process.

EVICTION COURT WATCH REPORT

MONIQUE BERLANGA

Monique Berlanga is the Executive Director Centro Legal de la Raza, an organization that protects and advances the rights of immigrants, workers, and tenants in the East Bay. She has represented low-income tenants in the region for ten years, previously serving as the managing attorney of the Eviction Defense Center and Directing Attorney of Centro Legal’s Tenants’ Rights Practice. During the pandemic, she also helped stand up Alameda County’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which was managed by Centro Legal. Monique is from Hayward.�

Executive Director

CENTRO LEGAL DE LA RAZA

Alameda County Housing Secure (ACHS)

centrolegal.org

Monique Berlanga, Executive Director

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2017: EVICTION DEFENSE CAPACITY BEFORE ACHS

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6 ATTORNEYS

Centro Legal de la Raza

3400 E. 12th Street, Oakland, CA 94601| centrolegal.org

2018: Alameda County Housing Secure (ACHS) Established

Alameda County Housing Secure (ACHS) has been critical in providing anti-displacement and homelessness prevention services to low-income Alameda County tenants through the provision of:

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• Outreach & Know-Your-Rights education
• Legal consultations to address issues that have not risen to the level of an eviction or foreclosure.
• Legal representation for residents facing eviction or foreclosure.
• Short-term emergency financial assistance for housing costs such as rent or mortgage payments.payments.

CONTINUUM OF SERVICES

The collaborative has developed a coordinated strategy using an array of tools to help our most vulnerable community members attain housing security. These services create a continuum that educates residents about their rights, provides consultations so residents know how their rights apply in their specific situation, and provides the legal resources for them to access and enforce their rights.

• Outreach & Know Your Rights education extend the understanding of key legal protections out into the community and complements the outreach and marketing strategies that are also integral to the program.
• Legal consultations address issues that have not risen to the level of an eviction or foreclosure.
• Legal representation for residents facing eviction or foreclosure.
• Short-term emergency financial assistance is available for clients receiving legal services to assist them with housing costs such as rent or mortgage payments. This assistance stabilizes households, prevents the immediate loss of housing, and reduces the risks of future loss of housing.

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Peer-to-Peer Referral System

Tenants and homeowners in crisis often struggle to navigate the maze of services available. To address this problem, ACHS created P2P, a a shared referral system that creates a “no wrong door” system to access legal services. 1000+ referrals have been made using the P2P system to date.

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The strength of ACHS is that each agency provides specialized services based on geography, age of client, subject matter, type of housing, etc.

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The P2P referral system ensures that residents do not have to go “door to door” among agencies to find the right provider. If a participant contacts an agency and it is not the agency best suited to meet the client’ needs, the agency makes an internal referral to another ACHS provider.

CLIENTS SERVED

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4 FTE Attorneys and 1 FTE Paralegal

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Centro Legal de la Raza

3400 E. 12th Street, Oakland, CA 94601| centrolegal.org

2018-2022: 2,400+ tenants served via one-on-one legal services

• 1,991 legal consults
• 939 legal representations

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Of clients who received legal representation, 52% stayed in their homes and 48% negotiated more time, money, or other resources to cushion their move.

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Flexible Financial Assistance

282+

families stabilized their housing situation through the Emergency Financial Assistance Program

$2,202,945

has been disbursed to families in need to stabilize their housing

$4,808

awarded on average to tenant families to stabilize their housing (35% of the ACHS ERAP average award amount)

100% of recipients contacted in the follow up survey stayed in their homes

Integration of rental assistance with legal services makes both more effective: attorneys ensure that payments are fair, making rental assistance go farther, and rental assistance creates more opportunities to keep tenants in their homes.

WHO ARE WE REACHING?

Centro Legal de la Raza

3400 E. 12th Street, Oakland, CA 94601| centrolegal.org

• 82% Extremely Low Income
• 35% Latino/Hispanic
• 29% Black/African American
• 16% Other
• 60% Household size of 2+
• 44% HHs w/ Dependent Children
• 21% Age 61+
• 23% Female Head of Household
• 31% Identified as having a disability

The ACHS collaborative targets assistance to the most marginalized County residents, which also corresponds with the demographics most likely to experience displacement and homelessness.

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OHS:

• 75% Extremely Low Income
• 38% Latino/Hispanic
• 34% Black/African American
• 62% Household size of 2+
• 43% HHs w/ Dependent Children
• 19% Age 61+
• 22% Female Head of Household
• 28% Identified as having a disability

Program Expansion

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Oakland Housing Secure → City of Oakland added in resources which allowed us to expand the program to serve an additional 1,344 tenants and homeowners in 2018-2022

Shriver Project → Day-of-court representation for low income tenants and homeowners which allowed us to serve 256 tenants 2020-2022

CURRENT EVICTION DEFENSE CAPACITY

IN ALAMEDA COUNTY

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27 Attorneys

1,000 legal rep’s

from all funding sources

Legal services capacity is steadily increasing,

but still not enough.

ACHS 2.0→ ERAP

27

Using ERAP

as a prevention tool

KEY LESSONS LEARNED

Centro Legal de la Raza

3400 E. 12th Street, Oakland, CA 94601| centrolegal.org

Targeted legal representation has led to hugely successful efforts in preventing homelessness for those most at risk of experiencing homelessness.

• Coordination of service providers leads to better services and the ability to pivot to meet community need.
• Requires a crucial investment in administrative capacity.
• Targeted legal representation has led to hugely successful efforts in preventing homelessness for those most at risk of experiencing homelessness.
• Tenants and homeowners facing housing insecurity often have needs beyond what can be addressed by legal services. There is a need for integrated, coordinated social services.
• There is a great need for more flexibility in rental assistance funds to more effectively address barriers to accessing housing.

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Centro Legal de la Raza

3400 E. 12th Street, Oakland, CA 94601| centroleal.og

ACHS 3.0→ SCALING ACHS

POST-MORATORIUM

Centro Legal de la Raza

3400 E. 12th Street, Oakland, CA 94601| centrolegal.org

32

Monique Berlanga,

Executive Director

Centro Legal de la Raza

mberlanga@centrolegal.org

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Centro Legal de la Raza

3400 E. 12th Street, Oakland, CA 94601| centrolegal.org

HUGO RAMIREZ

Hugo Ramírez is Community Development Program Manager at the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development. In partnership with the community-based organizations who carry out the work, he helps lead San Francisco’s eviction prevention and housing stabilization programs, including a tenant right to counsel; tenants’ rights counseling, education, and outreach; mediation; and rental subsidy programs. He lives in Concord with his husband and rescue dog.�

Community Development Program Manager

San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development

Tenant Right to Counsel Program

City and County of San Francisco 

Hugo Ramírez

Eviction Prevention and Housing Stabilization

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January 18, 2023

Resulted from 2018 ballot measure (Prop F: No Eviction Without Representation Act) and implementation began in 2019

• Funding is subject to Mayor/BOS budget process; no dedicated revenue source

Rooted in the innovation of San Francisco’s legal aid and tenant advocacy sectors

• Forerunner began in 2005 as a pro bono attorney-of-the-day program coordinated by two legal aid groups; network expanded to ten groups; City funding began only ten years ago

Prop F mandates universal access to full-scope representation for tenants facing eviction

• 95% of all tenants facing eviction have household incomes at or below 80% AMI; mostly ELI & VLI 71% & 16%

TENANT RIGHT TO COUNSEL PROGRAM

1. Effective intervention (added bonus: universal program creates rich data to drive decision-making)
2. Reduces power imbalance between landlords and tenants
3. Incentivizes landlords to seek compromise solutions that preserve housing stability
4. Advances racial equity and homelessness prevention/anti-displacement goals
5. Creates safety net cost savings (3-6 times ROI)/economic impacts (e.g., workforce preservation)
6. For Superior Courts: improves court operations and services for all litigants

It’s not just for big cities/counties with robust tenant advocacy: Oklahoma, Ohio, Minnesota, Kentucky, etc.!

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LEGAL REPRESENTATION GETS RESULTS!

• In one study, tenants receiving full-scope legal representation stayed in their homes 3 times as often as those receiving limited or no legal assistance
• In SF, it’s 2 times as often because our less-than-full-scope legal services are still extensive
• When tenants did have to move, they were given twice as long to do so
• In SF, represented tenants get significantly better move-out terms than if they hadn’t received legal help

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TRC AS AN EFFECTIVE INTERVENTION

Success Rate

• Two-thirds of tenants who availed themselves of help stayed in their homes if they received full-scope representation
• One-third of tenants stayed in their homes if they received less than full-scope representation�

Availability of Full-Scope Representation

• Two-thirds/one-third is also the breakdown of who received full-scope and less than full-scope

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TWO-THIRDS, ONE-THIRD

PERCENTAGE OF SF POPULATION & SF EVICTIONS BY RACE

Government/Funder Peer – Hugo Ramírez

hugo.ramirez@sfgov.org │ 628-652-5939

Eviction Prevention and Housing Stabilization

SF Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development�

Legal Aid Peers – Martina Cucullu Lim │ Ora Prochovnick

martinac@evictiondefense.org │ orap@evictiondefense.org

415-470-5212 │ 415-470-5209

Executive Director │ Director of Litigation and Policy

Eviction Defense Collaborative

YOUR SUCCESS IS OUR SUCCESS!

At this time, we will be answering questions that folks have put in the Q&A chat during the webinar.��If your question is not answered by the end of this session please email rachita@workingeastbay.org your question and the Raise the Roof team will respond to you directly.

QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION

Multiple organizations from the Raise the Roof Coalition provide tenant resources and services including:

• Free legal information for tenants
• Know your Rights Workshops
• Assistance with getting your security deposit back
• Protection from eviction

Check out for the list of tenant resources in Contra Costa County using this link: bit.ly/tenantresourcescoco

TENANT RESOURCES

• Stay updated or get involved by joining the Raise the Roof Coalition’s email list: https://bit.ly/stayupdatedrtr
• Follow the organizations co-hosting or participating in this webinar on social media to learn more about our important work and get involved with upcoming actions and meetings.

TAKE ACTION & GET INVOLVED

Thank you to all of the attendees of this webinar! We are also very appreciative of our speakers and sponsors for their participation.

• Mariana Moore from Ensuring Opportunity for emceeing the webinar
• Assemblymember Buffy Wicks for opening remarks
• All Speakers: Betty Gabaldon, Jennifer Morales, Alex Werth, Monique Berlanga, and Hugo Ramirez
• All Co-Sponsors: Raise the Roof Coalition, United Way Bay Area, All Home, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, and Central Labor Council Contra Costa County AFL-CIO

THANK YOU!