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 Oakland fire: Landlord moved to evict tenants from ‘deathtrap’ after Ghost Ship blaze
From Time2017-3-29

March 27–OAKLAND — A week after the deadly Ghost Ship warehouse fire, landlord Keith Kim notified tenants of 2551 San Pablo Ave. They were being evicted from the three-story building with a history of code violations and a reputation as a “deathtrap.”

On Monday morning, Kim’s property, leased by nonprofits for use as transitional housing for more than 80 people, burned in a   fire that killed three people, hospitalized four and raised more questions about the building’s past issues.

Over the last decade, the city has received 20 complaints about pest infestation, electrical issues, mold, trash, graffiti, floors caving in, roof leaks and other blight issues. Eighteen of those complaints occurred within the last five years, including the Urojas Community Services’ request on March 2 for an inspection of the facility by code enforcement for “alleged deferred maintenance by (the) landlord.” The city verified the violation, according to city records.

On Feb. 23, the city sent a notice of violation after a neighbor complained about the building, saying there was a “large amount of trash and debris, building materials, furniture in back of property.” On Dec. 29, a few weeks after the Dec. 2 Ghost Ship fire, the city opened an investigation into a housing habitability complaint which stated: “No working heat throughout the building, electrical issues and a large pest infestation.”

In an interview last Tuesday, Kim said problems with Urojas began roughly six months ago, when he received a lien on the building due to an unpaid water bill. Urojas was supposed to pay the roughly $90,000 bill, he said, but Rev. Dr. Jasper Lowery, the founder and director of Urojas, contested that allegation, saying paying the water bill was never part of their agreement since Urojas pays for the electricity bill. An EBMUD water bill, which was obtained by this newspaper, listed House of Change as the customer as recently as June.

Kim said he wanted another service provider to operate the reentry, homeless and veteran transitional housing programs inside the building. Urojas Community Services houses over 20 people on the first and second floors. They share the first floor with House of Change, and the third floor is occupied by Dignity Housing West, according to Lowery.

Lowery and Kim met with Council member Lynette Gibson McElhaney, who represents West Oakland, to discuss the condition of the building and other habitability issues, she said. She told this newspaper that she was not aware Kim wanted to change the service provider operating in the building, but email records indicate otherwise.

“I have no knowledge of eviction actions,” McElhaney said on Monday. “I know we were working with the owner and the providers to make sure we could clarify systems so that we could bring in additional resources. I don’t know anything about evictions or the legal challenges there.”

But, in an email dated March 14, McElhaney acknowledged the meeting she had with Kim and Lowery earlier this month, saying that as a result, “Keith Kim agreed to: drop eviction actions and forgive past accounts (est $90K); work with Urojas on smooth transition plan.” She later said, “I will not move forward until the occupancy/tenancy issues are resolved, which is unfortunate as I believe the volunteers … are ready to mobilize within the next two weeks.”

Lowery and the tenants at 2551 San Pablo Ave. had for several months been trying to get Kim to make improvements to the property. Kim said repairs and maintenance were the responsibility of Urojas, who he identified as the master tenant. But, Lowery disputes being the master tenant, and instead produced cashier checks made out to DCSI, Inc., the property holding company that Kim owns, as well as other checks made out to Dignity Housing West.

Last Tuesday, Lowery inspected two large buckets, which were collecting water streaming in from the third floor. Lowery said they couldn’t make repairs the ceiling because they couldn’t access the third floor, where Dignity Housing West was supposed to be providing services. Representatives from Urojas filed a complaint on March 2 with the city regarding the leak, and city officials confirmed that they sent a code enforcement inspector to the building on March 3, but the inspector couldn’t access all parts of the building, said Harry Hamilton, a spokesman for the city.

“While the formal notice of violation to the owner is in process, the owner was informed of the leak via email,” Hamilton said in an email last week, adding that city staff is working with the property owner to take “corrective actions.”

But it wasn’t clear to Lowery that Dignity Housing West was still in operation, he said, because squatters were beginning to take it over.

“The first thing that went wrong was the loss of control of the third floor,” Lowery said. “It was quite out of control on some occasions. When you start having activity, people who don’t belong start coming in the building.

“People stopped paying their rent, then squatters started coming in and claiming rooms, then some drug activity started happening,” he said, sitting at his desk on the second floor.

Lowery said tenants of the building told him: “It’s a deathtrap in there.”

“This is another Ghost Ship because of the violations on the building, things aren’t up to code and things weren’t fixed, and that’s always been a concern,” Lowery said last week before Monday’s deadly blaze.

Jabari Herbert, a West Oakland developer, is listed as the agent for both House of Change and Dignity Housing West, according to the Secretary of State’s nonprofit registry. Reached on Friday, Herbert said he was no longer associated with either agency.

Kim said he wasn’t aware of other services agencies, other than Urojas, operating in the building, even though Herbert and Kim are business partners and worked together on a development project near the West Oakland BART station.

 
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