{"id":10711,"date":"2018-12-28T13:52:31","date_gmt":"2018-12-28T21:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=10711"},"modified":"2018-12-28T13:52:31","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T21:52:31","slug":"from-berkeleys-streets-to-oaklands-slums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2018\/12\/28\/from-berkeleys-streets-to-oaklands-slums\/","title":{"rendered":"From Berkeley\u2019s Streets to Oakland\u2019s Slums"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"StoryHeaderMobile\" class=\"content-header StoryHeaderMobile MainPage ContentDefaultMobile  \">\n<h4 class=\"subheadline\">An Oakland slumlord is housing a formerly homeless Berkeley resident in a dilapidated building while collecting city and federal subsidies.<\/h4>\n<p><span class=\"authorAttribute\">by<\/span>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/m.eastbayexpress.com\/author\/darwin-bondgraham\" rel=\"author\">Darwin BondGraham<\/a>\u00a0(eastbayexpress.com)<\/p>\n<p><time class=\"date\" datetime=\"2018-12-27\">December 27, 2018<\/time><\/div>\n<div id=\"ShareToolsMobile\" class=\"ShareToolsMobile MainPage ContentDefaultMobile \"><\/div>\n<div id=\"StoryLayoutMobile\" class=\"content-body StoryLayoutMobile MainPage ContentDefaultMobile \">\n<div id=\"storyBody\" class=\"page1\">\n<div class=\"contentImageCenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media1.fdncms.com\/eastbayexpress\/imager\/u\/mobilestory\/24001707\/zint.jpg\" alt=\"Mike Zint looks up at a basketball-sized water bubble in his ceiling last week.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"imageCaption\">Mike Zint looks up at a basketball-sized water bubble in his ceiling last week.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Mike Zint used to be one of Berkeley\u2019s chronically homeless. He\u2019s also a well-known activist who spent the last half-decade protesting the city of Berkeley\u2019s response to the homelessness crisis. So, in 2017 when Berkeley and its nonprofit homeless navigation center, the Hub, placed Zint in a permanent home, he became a high-profile success story. His transition off the streets into a studio apartment helped demonstrate that Berkeley\u2019s program works.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe put a lot of pressure on them,\u201d Zint said in an interview. \u201cThey housed me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But last week, Zint was forced to move out of his apartment after gallons of foul, rust-colored water leaked through his roof during a rainstorm. Zint, who is disabled and has respiratory problems, collected the tainted liquid in buckets and emptied in his toilet before it flooded his kitchen. The air in his studio smelled humid and moldy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy tent never leaked for five years,\u201d said Zint about the time he spent living on Berkeley\u2019s streets. \u201cI\u2019m in more danger right now because of this roof leaking and the mold that\u2019s probably in there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zint said that he first noticed water marks on the ceiling indicating leakage in April 2017 when he moved into the deep East Oakland apartment. After a spring rainstorm, he documented water coming in through the roof and asked his landlord and the Hub to fix it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA guy came out once, walked on the roof,\u201d said Zint, \u201cbut the rainy season was over and getting it fixed kind of vanished.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In November, it started to leak again, worse this time. Again, he notified his landlord and the Hub, but he didn\u2019t think either was moving fast enough, so Zint protested. He filmed rain dripping into his kitchen and he photographed a basketball-sized water bubble growing under his ceiling\u2019s paint. He sent the pictures and videos to Berkeley city councilmembers and his case workers at the Hub. Zint also began publicly posting videos of the leaking roof to his Facebook page where he provided updates to his followers.<\/p>\n<p>In response, the Hub moved him into a hotel room last Thursday. And his landlord, under pressure from the Hub and city of Berkeley, agreed to repair the roof.<\/p>\n<p>But Zint\u2019s experience raises questions about the quality of housing that formerly homeless people are being placed in as cities like Berkeley rush to address the shelter crisis. The incredible shortage of affordable housing units designed and priced for very low-income populations has forced nonprofit service providers and cities to increasingly rely on private landlords, some with checkered pasts of renting out substandard and dangerous housing.<\/p>\n<p>In Zint\u2019s case, his apartment is in a six-unit building owned by DODG Corporation, which is managed by another company, RentOak, LLC. Behind both companies is one of Oakland\u2019s biggest landlords, the Singhs, a politically connected family that long-held a monopoly on the city\u2019s taxicab industry.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past several decades, Baljit Singh, his wife Surindar Mann, and their sons Harmit Mann and Dharminder Mann have acquired ownership of over 150 homes and apartment buildings throughout Oakland. At the same time, their tenants have complained of almost every imaginable problem. But according to city records, after building inspectors identify health hazards and code violations, the problems persist.<\/p>\n<p>In just the past several years, inspectors have found mountains of trash infested with vermin outside of apartment buildings owned by the Singhs. Other buildings suffer from dangerously exposed wiring, sinking foundations, missing smoke detectors, water leaking through ceilings and walls, broken windows and locks, broken elevators, dangerous stairways with broken handrails, leaking plumbing, and mold and mildew.<\/p>\n<p>At one downtown Oakland property owned by the Singhs, a city inspector verified in 2017 a disturbing list of problems: \u201cHeater is inoperable. There is a hole in the ceiling. Mold throughout the unit. Oven shoots out fire even when it\u2019s not on. Low water pressure. Windows don&#8217;t function properly,\u201d the inspector wrote in his notes.<\/p>\n<p>At another rental property on 71st Avenue, county inspectors found in 2014 \u201cstanding water\u201d under a home that was causing mold. \u201cHealth of child impacted,\u201d the county inspectors wrote in a referral sent to city inspectors.<\/p>\n<p>At a Singh-owned apartment building on International Boulevard near 99th Avenue, tenants complained in 2017 of accumulating trash and unsanitary conditions causing a \u201crodent infestation.\u201d This year, tenants at the same property complained again to the city about \u201ctrash in the backyard causing rats and roaches,\u201d as well as inoperable smoke detectors.<\/p>\n<p>According to city records, tenants at about half of the properties owned by the Singhs have complained of unsanitary and substandard conditions over the past decade. City inspectors verified violations in many of the cases.<\/p>\n<div class=\"contentImageCenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media2.fdncms.com\/eastbayexpress\/imager\/u\/mobilestory\/24001708\/zintkitchen.jpg\" alt=\"Water leaks in Zint's kitchen corroded his refrigerator.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"imageCaption\">Water leaks in Zint&#8217;s kitchen corroded his refrigerator.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>In Zint\u2019s building, the roof has been leaking for at least three years. In 2015, tenants complained of dry rot in the ceiling that caused a hole to form, letting in water and pests. City inspectors wrote in reports that the building\u2019s foundation might have shifted causing plumbing problems. In 2017, tenants again complaint of leaky roofs. Another complaint about the roof was lodged with the city in February 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Zint said he complained directly to DODG and RentOak and to the Hub in April and again in November about his studio\u2019s leaking roof. \u201cA mouse fell out of a crack in the ceiling,\u201d Zint said about one of the water-damaged areas that recently ruptured.<\/p>\n<p>Aaron Hancock, an attorney for DODG Corporation, told the\u00a0<i>Express<\/i>\u00a0that the company usually buys distressed real estate that is already in bad shape and then \u201cpours\u201d money into the properties to improve them. DODG also attempts to address problems at their residential properties as soon as they arise or are brought to the attention of management by tenants, he said. DODG also recently hired a professional property manager, Michael Trang, and has made other changes.<\/p>\n<p>Jim Huntley, a spokesperson for the Hub, said his organization does its best to inspect units and ensure landlords keep them up to code and that the Hub also tries to get problems fixed quickly when a tenant complains. \u201cWe inspected that unit,\u201d Huntley said about Zint\u2019s studio. \u201cWe\u2019re not always able to get up on top of a roof and anticipate something\u2019s going to leak.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zint pays the $1,500 a month in rent for his studio using a Shelter Plus Care voucher that is funded through the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered by Alameda County with assistance from the Hub and city of Berkeley. The voucher covers $1,374 of the total, and Zint, who earns about $900 in income a month, pays the rest. DODG rents about a dozen other apartments to low-income tenants through the Shelter Plus Care program.<\/p>\n<p>According to Huntley, Berkeley\u2019s Hub was able to house about 63 people in 2016 through this program. Last year, the Hub housed another 93 people, and this year the number housed will be slightly lower. Many of these homeless people are placed in homes in the Central Valley due to the shortage of affordable housing in the East Bay, however. For those who stay in the East Bay, the quality of housing can be poorer due to the tight real estate market, as well as the older housing stock that\u2019s common in cities like Berkeley and Oakland.<\/p>\n<p>Berkeley\u2019s \u201ccoordinated entry system\u201d was set up in 2016 to serve about 1,000 homeless people living on the city\u2019s streets with the goal of placing every individual into transitional or longterm homes. But because of the shortage of very-low income affordable housing, usually built and operated by nonprofits, navigation centers like Berkeley\u2019s Hub increasingly have to rely on private landlords to house the homeless. While many landlords participating in these types of programs keep their properties in good shape, some don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>Zint insisted on staying near his community in Berkeley, but that meant it was more difficult to find a relatively affordable apartment in good shape. \u201cAt first, they tried to get me to move out to Antioch and Stockton,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs you well know, we\u2019re up against a difficult housing market where it\u2019s hard to place clients,\u201d Huntley said. \u201cWe\u2019re scrambling to find landlords who will take this subsidy, and it places nonprofits such as the Hub in really difficult positions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Huntley said that because the Hub is a nonprofit service provider, it doesn\u2019t have the power to compel landlords to fix problems. \u201cIf it\u2019s an egregious code violation, it\u2019s ultimately up to the city to enforce the law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The city of Oakland has cracked down on the Singhs for several especially egregious cases of housing and building code violations, according to city of Oakland records. But even while Oakland\u2019s Planning and Building Department has cited the Singhs for operating dangerous housing, the Singhs have also benefitted from public grants distributed by another city department.<\/p>\n<p>According to city records, companies owned by the Singh family has received at least $254,000 through Oakland\u2019s \u201cTenant and Fa\u00e7ade Improvement Program\u201d since 2009. In some cases, the Singhs have used this money to pay for renovations of properties where city building inspectors later found serious code violations.<\/p>\n<p>For example, in 2009, the city provided the Singhs with $65,000 in subsidies to fix up one of their buildings located on Foothill Boulevard in Oakland\u2019s Fairfax neighborhood. City records show that there have been five code enforcement cases at the property since 2013, with problems such as broken windows and cracked glass doors, exposed electrical wiring, and trash stored in unapproved bins on the sidewalk for weeks at a time. In September of this year, city inspectors found \u201choles in the walls, lighting issues, cracks in the stairs,\u201d along with a broken water heater, a dangerous stairway, and no locks on exterior doors.<\/p>\n<p>Oakland\u2019s Tenant and Fa\u00e7ade Improvement Program has been the subject of controversy in the past due to grants made to one member of the Singh family. In 2014, Dharminder Mann pleaded no contest to charges of defrauding the city of Oakland of grants made through the program to a company he controlled instead of using it to fix up properties.<\/p>\n<p>There is no evidence that any other members of the Singh family have misappropriated city grants through the program. But since 2015, Dharminder\u2019s brother, Harmit Mann, has applied for at least 5 more Tenant and Fa\u00e7ade Improvement Program grants from the city\u2019s Community and Economic Development Agency to pay for construction at properties owned by his family. They include proposed renovations to an airport parking facility on 98th Avenue and an old garage converted into a strip mall on Hegenberger Road.<\/p>\n<p>Even while they apply for city grants, the Singh family continues to be cited by the city\u2019s Planning and Building Department for operating dangerous and illegal housing in the city. In one case from January 2018, a city inspector found an unpermitted living space in the warehouse. The makeshift homes were partially flooded with water that was leaking through the roof. There was no heat in the units, and they smelled of mold.<\/p>\n<p>A month later, the same city inspector returned to the property and noted \u201cseveral life safety violations,\u201d including no smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, no means of egress from the bedrooms, and carbon monoxide ventilation violations. The problems were so bad that the Oakland Fire Department put the building under watch.<\/p>\n<p>By March, city inspectors observed that \u201cfamilies are still living in the warehouse building,\u201d including young children. In May, Baljit Singh, Harmit Mann, their architect, and lobbyist Ignacio De La Fuente, former longtime city council president \u2014 who now runs his own lobbying firm \u2014 met with city officials at the Planning and Building Department offices in downtown Oakland.<\/p>\n<p>City officials ordered the Singhs relocate all of the families living in the building, mostly Latino immigrants, by June 11. But according to city records, when building inspectors arrived on the 14th, after they already red-tagged the building, they observed that there were still multiple tenants residing there, including a pregnant woman and a small boy. By July, the building had finally been emptied.<\/p>\n<p>Tenants living in other properties owned by the Singhs have complained of harassment and retaliation when they filed complaints to the city about the poor condition of their homes. In 2017, residents of an apartment complex on 105th Avenue owned by the Singhs filed a complaint with the city about piles of trash around the garbage bins that were attracting vermin.<\/p>\n<p>One resident wrote in an application for a restraining order that the Singh\u2019s employees \u201cscreamed\u201d at them about the complaint and that Baljit Singh showed up one day and allegedly threatened to throw away all of their belongings. County health inspector Celina Guerra-Martinez wrote in a report that tenants told her Singh threatened to throw out children\u2019s bicycles \u201cand blamed the tenants for the garbage issues at the property.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another health inspector, Bruce Kirkpatrick, visited the apartment complex in June 2017 and observed a pile of trash in the parking lot. \u201cThe flies were everywhere and tenants described that the flies were entering apartments,\u201d he wrote. \u201cRaccoons and seagulls have been seen in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last Sunday, after three days in a hotel, Zint was able to move back into his apartment which got a new ceiling. \u201cIt\u2019s a shame it took it all of this to do it,\u201d he said about his online protest against his landlord and the Hub.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, Zint said he\u2019s concerned about what other, less vocal homeless people might experience as they search for landlords who will accept homeless program housing vouchers. He fears that some formerly homeless people might be getting off the streets, but they\u2019re possibly being pushed into substandard housing in the East Bay\u2019s tighter-than-ever rental market.<br \/>\n\u201cThere\u2019s not enough affordable units,\u201d said Zint. \u201cI get it. They\u2019ve got to go with what\u2019s available and they think that in order to save lives they feel this is the most efficient way to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now with winter well underway, Zint is hoping the leaks don\u2019t start up again.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"CommentsMobile\" class=\"CommentsMobile MainPage ContentDefaultMobile \">\n<div id=\"readerComments\" class=\"commentsHeader hreview-aggregate clearfix\">\n<div class=\"comment-header\">\n<h2>Comments (<span id=\"comments_total\" class=\"commentsTotalUpdate\">9<\/span>)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"comment-actions\"><a class=\"ui button alt notext edit icon-center nodisc\" href=\"https:\/\/m.eastbayexpress.com\/oakland\/from-berkeleys-streets-to-oaklands-slums\/Content?oid=23985486&amp;fbclid=X#CommentsMobilePostCommentForm\">ADD A COMMENT<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"CommentsMobile_commentContent\" class=\"commentContent ui segment transparent\">\n<div class=\"comment comment-item \">\n<div class=\"ui segment\">\n<div class=\"ui top attached label\"><a class=\"memberThumb\" href=\"https:\/\/m.eastbayexpress.com\/oakland\/Profile?oid=3795603\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"memberThumb\" src=\"https:\/\/m.eastbayexpress.com\/images\/icons\/user_generic-thumb.gif\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/m.eastbayexpress.com\/oakland\/Profile?oid=3795603\">JP MASSAR<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>12\/27\/2018 AT 9:56 AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"content \">\n<p class=\"description\">Any business with that kind of track record should be denied license to operate and be subject to having some of their properties seized and sold to pay for repairs to bring conditions up to code.<\/p>\n<p>The owners should be personally responsible for any deaths or illnesses due to these outrageous, dangerous and unhealthy conditions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Note from Mike Zint, First They Came for the Homeless:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Be happy for the housing we bless you with. You are one of the lucky few. Now, go away and die!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Oakland slumlord is housing a formerly homeless Berkeley resident in a dilapidated building while collecting city and federal subsidies. by\u00a0Darwin BondGraham\u00a0(eastbayexpress.com) December 27, 2018 Mike Zint looks up at a basketball-sized water bubble in his ceiling last week. Mike Zint used to be one of Berkeley\u2019s chronically homeless. He\u2019s&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2018\/12\/28\/from-berkeleys-streets-to-oaklands-slums\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10711"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10712,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10711\/revisions\/10712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}