As this is written, over 75 longterm tenants at Oakland’s 150-room California Hotel face imminent eviction, as their landlord seeks to close the building to conduct major renovations. But the landlord is not Skyline Realty or another real estate speculator: rather, it is a nonprofit housing organization whose eviction plans are strongly backed by Oakland city officials and the city’s housing non-profits. This growing conflict between tenants who should have the right to stay in their homes, and the city’s belief that the hotel’s longterm future depends on their displacement and a major renovation, is not likely to end well.

The battle at the California Hotel is a sad testament to Oakland’s failed affordable housing policies. The city poured millions into Cahon Associates, a subsidiary of Oakland Community Housing, Inc. (OCHI), only to see the nonprofit run the California Hotel into the ground.

Cahon and OCHI did such a poor job that the John Stewart Company walked away from managing the hotel due to not being paid. The nonprofit owner then threatened to simply close down the hotel, which prompted the tenants to get a court order preventing their lockout. Rather than intervene to protect the tenants due process rights, the city contemplates using the fire or health departments to oust the tenants outside the normal eviction process.

Everyone agrees that the City of Oakland failed to monitor OCHI’s operations. But it seems that only the tenants and the organization Just Cause Oakland recognize that a solution must be found that does not relocate existing residents outside the property.

According to the tenants and their attorney John Murcko, the hotel’s condition is nowhere near bad enough to justify forced relocation. It appears that the only reason the city and nonprofits are demanding relocation is that a new longterm funding source may require such; but it is hard to believe that Mayor Ron Dellums could not find a solution that keeps the tenants in place while allowing upgrades of the property.

It is often said that some nonprofit housing groups focus too much on “units” and not enough on the needs of the tenants occupying such housing. This has clearly become the case at the California Hotel, and represents another example of the city’s long legacy of poor management.

For additional details on the California Hotel dispute, see http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_9882228