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Agenda Item
4 23-0697 Subject: Centro Legal De La Raza, Inc. Grant Agreement For Tenant Legal Services
From: Housing And Community Development Department
Recommendation: Adopt A Resolution Awarding A Grant Agreement To Centro Legal De La Raza, Inc. For An Amount Not To Exceed One Million Dollars ($1,000,000) To Provide Tenant Legal Services And Eviction Protection
Item #4 - Please channel this money into rents to support tenants and housing providers. The biggest issue here is money being spent indirectly and inefficiently. Let's be direct and help Oakland renters and landlords with financial relief.
More taxpayer money is being diverted to an unaccountable lawyer organization. Dubious lawyers prevented concerned neighbors from closing down a violent encampment - robberies, drugs, stabbing death, shootings, and even animal cruelty amongst other things. NO! NO! NO!
As a homeowner in Oakland, I am concerned with keeping people housed rather than on the street. Why doesn't the city have funds like this $1 million to help people meet that one rent payment that can keep them in place? This would approach the problem from the front end, a philosophy the city has stated it supports on other social issues. Why is this different? With this budget where every dollar counts, this distribution of a million dollars with a stated lack of accountability seems extremely reckless. Belts are being tightened across our city. Our council needs to be responsible. And frankly, why would we ever allocate funds without accountability!
Item #4 is to give Central Legal $1M to spend as they wish. In the past, Staff recommended that 25% went to fund missed rent payment and 75% to legal fees. This time, staff is recommending that 100% go to Centro to spend as they wish.
This is BAD for renters and landlords, but good for Lawyers. - Why would City Council want this?
If you let the funds all go to lawyers...here's what happens...
Centro Legal pay their lawyers to make it very expensive for the landlord (high Lawyer fees) for an eviction process. Centro doesn't stop the eviction, they just make it more expensive. The lawyers all get paid and the tenant is eventually evicted because they can't pay their rent.
Instead, what's more productive is to help the renter pay their rent and get in a position to pay their rent going forward. Then the landlord gets paid and the renter doesn't get evicted...it's only the lawyers that work for Central Legal and eviction lawyers that don't get paid under this scenario.
So, please allocate 100% of the $1M to be allocated to help renters pay their rent...this is how you stop evictions...not by giving money to lawyers to help evict.
Item #4 - Please channel this money into rents to support tenants and housing providers. The biggest issue here is money being spent indirectly and inefficiently. Let's be direct and help Oakland renters and landlords with financial relief.
More taxpayer money is being diverted to an unaccountable lawyer organization. Dubious lawyers prevented concerned neighbors from closing down a violent encampment - robberies, drugs, stabbing death, shootings, and even animal cruelty amongst other things. NO! NO! NO!
As a homeowner in Oakland, I am concerned with keeping people housed rather than on the street. Why doesn't the city have funds like this $1 million to help people meet that one rent payment that can keep them in place? This would approach the problem from the front end, a philosophy the city has stated it supports on other social issues. Why is this different? With this budget where every dollar counts, this distribution of a million dollars with a stated lack of accountability seems extremely reckless. Belts are being tightened across our city. Our council needs to be responsible. And frankly, why would we ever allocate funds without accountability!
Item #4 is to give Central Legal $1M to spend as they wish. In the past, Staff recommended that 25% went to fund missed rent payment and 75% to legal fees. This time, staff is recommending that 100% go to Centro to spend as they wish.
This is BAD for renters and landlords, but good for Lawyers. - Why would City Council want this?
If you let the funds all go to lawyers...here's what happens...
Centro Legal pay their lawyers to make it very expensive for the landlord (high Lawyer fees) for an eviction process. Centro doesn't stop the eviction, they just make it more expensive. The lawyers all get paid and the tenant is eventually evicted because they can't pay their rent.
Instead, what's more productive is to help the renter pay their rent and get in a position to pay their rent going forward. Then the landlord gets paid and the renter doesn't get evicted...it's only the lawyers that work for Central Legal and eviction lawyers that don't get paid under this scenario.
So, please allocate 100% of the $1M to be allocated to help renters pay their rent...this is how you stop evictions...not by giving money to lawyers to help evict.