Entire Neighborhood Gets Evicted! Punishment for reporting toxic mold contamination?

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KCRA TheKCRAChannel.com

Monday February 11 10:22 PM EST

Entire Neighborhood Gets Evicted

Hundreds of residents of Citrus Heights neighborhood were handed eviction

notices over the weekend and told they have 30 days to find a new place to

live.

A Japanese businessman owns all the homes and authorities said the move is

legal.

The Fair Housing Commission said they had never seen a mass-eviction notice

of this size before.

It affects five subdivisions, 419 homes, and an estimated 1,300 people.

Villa Creek is a subdivision of 100, three and four-bedroom homes, and is

one of those whose residents are now scrambling to find a new place to live

in a tight Sacramento rental market.

Some residents have lived in the area for as long as 13 years on just a

month-to-month agreement.

" I thought it was just me. I panicked, I got scared, I didn't even read the

bottom part of it. I called Rhonda . and she said all of us got it, "

resident Phoebe Yglesias said.

Resident Rhonda Warner and her husband are helping to organize their

neighbors.

" I think it's getting more organized now with more people, and I think

tomorrow night we're trying to get all five subdivisions involved in a

meeting, " Warner said.

Until recently, CB- Ellis was the property manager, but on Friday

they told the owner they would no longer represent him.

Many residents said they believe the evictions are punishment for reporting

potentially toxic mold in the homes and other repair problems, which they

said have not been repaired.

Sacramento County officials said they would try to intervene to at least get

tenants more time to find new housing.

Friday February 15 09:39 PM EST

Evicted Tenants Rally At Capitol

Sacramento-area residents being forced from their homes because of a mass

eviction planned their next move Friday.

They talked with officials, hoping that something can be done so that they

will have a place to call home in the future.

Tenants and city officials met at City Hall in Citrus Heights Friday to

discuss the problem that arose when a landlord decided to sell his rental

housing, leaving hundreds scrambling to find a new home.

The residents rallied at the state Capitol Friday.

" Where will we go? I can't afford this. I'm a single mom. I work for every

penny. I clip coupons. This is horrific for all of us, " tenant Sheri Aki

said.

State and local leaders are being pressured to give the tenants more time.

" He's got to be more cooperative. This is equivalent of a disaster. It's

evacuating all the people in two entire neighborhoods in Citrus Heights

alone, " community mediator Rob Kerth said.

Some tenants have doubts about the group that organized the rally, a

community activist group called ACORN.

" I'm not saying they're not working hard. They probably are. They're getting

fliers out there. They're trying to get agendas together. They're getting

rallies together. They're pumping people up. But I think it's to get their

name, their agenda out there, more than to help what's happening with us, "

tenant Rhonda Warner said.

ACORN also organized a meeting of the tenants earlier this week. But some

tenants said that the group was less interested in getting more time from

the landlord, and more interested in signing up new members and collecting

membership dues.

" It's like these people aren't hurting enough. We're not hurting enough

because we have to move. Now they want money from us. We feel that they are

taking advantage of us. And they have their own political agenda. And they

really don't care what we're going through, " tenant Donna Graham said.

Some tenants said that ACORN is too militant, suggesting that if the police

eventually do come to throw people out that they should barricade themselves

inside their homes.

A representative for ACORN said that he does understand the tenants'

frustration, but that most of the tenants are with ACORN.

Click here to get to a state Web site that offers a guide to residential

tenants' and landlords' rights and responsibilities.