For a just cause
Oakland voters will decide on restricting evictions

By Shadi Rahimi

Sandra Miguel is a single mother who's lived with her two young children in a one-bedroom Oakland apartment for five years, never missing a $557 rent payment or complaining about the roaches and mice.

But in June, Miguel received notice that the new landlord wanted her and fellow tenants to move out in 30 days. "This is not the place I like to live, but I don't have other options," she said. "I need this place because it's all I can pay."

Help could be on the way for Oakland renters like Miguel. This November voters will have the chance to pass Measure EE, which will require landlords to provide "just cause" for eviction, such as if a tenant violates his or her lease, damages property, or deals drugs.

Andrea Cousins, volunteer media coordinator for Just Cause Oakland, said if Measure EE passes it will mark the first time Oakland has enacted "basic and fair protections for its renters, who make up over 60 percent of Oakland's residents." But gathering support from city hall has been difficult. Even though more than 36,000 Oakland residents signed a petition this summer to place the measure on the Nov. 5 ballot, Mayor Jerry Brown has yet to publicly support it.

"We don't expect him to," Cousins said. "He knows there is a majority support for this measure, but he is not concerned with affordable housing and the loss of people of color from Oakland."

Brown did not return our calls by press time.

In a recent study, Sentinel Fair Housing found that 30-day evictions increased by 300 percent between September 1998 and December 1999. In 2000 the Oakland City Council killed the just-cause measure. A citywide grassroots effort finally gathered enough support to place the measure on the ballot this year.

So far, Sup. Nancy Nadel (District Three) is the only supervisor endorsing Measure EE. The Rental Housing Association of Northern Alameda County is the most powerful opponent of the measure.

Cousins said Measure EE proponents are putting their faith in Oakland residents. "It is the will of Oaklanders to make just-cause protection a law in Oakland," she said. "I see a clear victory ahead."

For more information or to volunteer, contact Just Cause Oakland's campaign office at (510) 763-5877.