East Bay tenants win right to water!

Shut_Offs_Are_BadOn Tuesday, East Bay tenants won a huge victory when the East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD) Board of Directors unanimously approved a resolution that will keep water on for tenants in multi-unit properties. Three years ago, Causa Justa member Kim Issacs was living in a property that was foreclosed on. Soon after the foreclosure, Issac’s water was shut-off. “Countrywide became the owner of the duplex I lived in,” Isaacs explains, “After trying to evict me twice, they stopped paying the utilities bills as a tactic to get my neighbor and my family to move out.” Instead of giving in to corporate pressure, Kim Isaacs joined forces with other Causa Justa members and fought back. This week, their struggle paid off with the resolution that will protect not only tenants such as Issacs but tenants living in multi-unit buildings across the board.

 

A people’s response to crisis

After the foreclosure, Kim Isaacs and her family were constantly being harassed by Countrywide, the bank that took over as her landlord. Countrywide’s actions were in violation of tenants’ rights, specifically the ones assured by Measure EE, the Just Cause Eviction Ordinance that founded our organization’s East Bay work. We knew that Isaac’s family was not alone. Almost 40% of foreclosed California properties are tenant occupied, and in Oakland alone, over a third of tenants in foreclosed properties report that they have habitability issues.

Thus, in the face of economic crisis, we began to pressure EBMUD to protect the rights of tenants after foreclosure. For three years we fought to assure that tenants do not bear the brunt of corporate irresponsibility and neglect. Our Utilities On! campaign garnered the support of EBMUD Board Member Andy Katz, the Alameda County Public Health Department, Supervisor Keith Carson’s Office, and a number of other ally organizations and officials.

Keeping banks accountable

On Tuesday the East Bay Municipal Utilities District Board of Directors voted unanimously to approve a resolution that will keep water on for East Bay tenants in multi-family properties. “The policy allows EBMUD to collect delinquent bills from multi-unit properties without turning the water off on tenants in properties where the owner stops paying the bill,” said EBMUD Director Andy Katz. “This policy helps residents stay in their homes if their landlord fails to pay their bills or when the property is in foreclosure.” Instead of cutting services on tenants, EBMUD will be holding accountable the ones who are responsible for delinquent bills, and in the process, will assure that banks will no longer be able to use water shut-offs as a way to illegally drive people from their homes.

The resolution that the Board passed on Tuesday goes beyond tenants in foreclosure by promising to keep the water on for tenants in all multi-unit properties. This is a model victory that we hope can be replicated in cities across the country. Tenants everywhere should be able to live, cook and bathe in peace in their homes, rather than suffer because their landlord didn’t pay their bills.

While this victory strengthens tenants’ right to healthy, habitable housing post foreclosure, there is still work ahead of us. Stay tuned to find out how you can help us push for better policy on a local and statewide level that will increase tenant protections and make the banks pay!