A brand new report produced by tenants’ rights advocates paints a damning image of the injustices renters in Alameda County’s city included space face each day—all the pieces from damaged water heaters to rodents to unresponsive landlords.
One resident reported having her complete residence flood with sewage water throughout a winter storm. One other stated flaking partitions and deteriorating carpet are worsening her youngsters’s bronchial asthma.
“We all know it’s unhealthy, but it surely’s additionally getting worse,” stated Leo Esclamado, an organizer with My Eden Voice, a grassroots marketing campaign to unite the Eden Space–which is broadly outlined within the report because the communities of Ashland, Cherryland, Hayward Acres, and Castro Valley. “While you’re speaking about leaks for a bathroom or faucet, or rubbish, or lead paint, it’s virtually compounding when it comes to the well being dangers folks already face in these unincorporated areas.”
Based on the report, greater than 50% of residents within the Eden Space are renters, and greater than 60 % are Black, Indigenous or folks of colour. These communities additionally face a few of the highest poverty charges within the county.
The extremely city area has a inhabitants of roughly 150,000 folks, bigger than the town of Berkeley. However in contrast to Berkeley, residents of the Eden Space shouldn’t have complete renter’s protections and housing oversight.
Because of this, in line with the report, residents are paying “never-before-seen costs for poorly maintained housing inventory.”
The report finds that one-third of renters within the Eden Space might be dwelling in housing that ought to be deemed legally uninhabitable. The survey, nonetheless, was based mostly on only a few hundred responses. Based on Alameda County, there are over 10,000 renter households within the unincorporated space.
Nonetheless, Alameda County doesn’t dispute the considerations raised within the report.
“We’re conscious that the situations within the unincorporated space have been a fantastic concern to the neighborhood,” stated Michelle Starratt, Alameda County’s housing director. “These are precisely the considerations we’ve heard.”
Based on Starratt, the county goes to be operating its personal habitability survey within the subsequent few months, surveying each renters and house owners. She stated they’ve already created a grant program for landlords to make repairs, which has up to now been underutilized.
Within the report, the authors name for numerous modifications to deal with the challenges confronted by renters dwelling within the Eden Space. These modifications embody lease stabilization, a rental registry that will implement tenant protections, and the creation of a proactive rental inspection program versus the present grievance based mostly mannequin.
“We ask that Alameda County decision-makers take pressing and concrete motion to deal with the wants of Eden renters,” the report reads.
A few of the modifications are at the moment stalled earlier than the County Board of Supervisors.
In 2020, the county acquired a grant to check the event of tenant safety insurance policies for unincorporated areas. The County Housing and Neighborhood Improvement division in the end advisable a “phased method to implement tenant protections”, together with rental registry and simply trigger for eviction ordinances, in addition to potential lease stabilization down the highway.
Based on the report, the primary batch of tenant safety ordinances initially handed in 2022, however have did not move on a second studying.
“It’s been encouraging to see extra municipalities throughout the East Bay adopting tenant protections, and it’s time for Alameda County to observe swimsuit,” stated Sasha Perigo, the strategic communications supervisor at East Bay Housing Organizations, one of many authors of the report. “Renters within the unincorporated Eden Space deserve equal protections.”
