Injustice Should Not Be Normal -- Why Wells Fargo Shouldn’t Sell the Woodland Park Apartments in East Palo Alto to Equity Residential

East Palo Alto Families Are Not For Sale! from charisse domingo on Vimeo.

My name is Jessica Kirton. I’m 19 years old, and I am a resident of the Woodland Park Apartments, an East Palo Alto resident, and a youth organizer with YUCA (Youth United for Community Action). I’m here to speak in favor of the people on East Palo Alto. I’ve been a tenant since 2004. In the beginning, the properties were decent. It’s definitely more decent today than before. But it was affordable.

That was until Page Mill came along in 2007 and everything changed. Prices went high up and the number of tenants went low as I saw neighbors being evicted for being unable to pay the rent. I witnessed my own mother working hard with 2 full-time jobs for the last two years just to be able to pay the house bills, put food on the table, and for me and my siblings to have a place to sleep. During that time all I wanted was for my mom to have a day off to spend at least 5 minutes to have a conversation with me. I didn’t know the extent of the struggles she faced and my neighbors until I joined YUCA. That’s when it all made sense. I thought it was just all normal, but to think of it as unjust was a whole new thought. I became aware of the impact and found the strength to do something about it.

In the spring of 2010 my family was among the fortunate ones to have our rents rolled back. As a tenant and as a young organizer, it was a great victory – along with the passing of Measure H that tightened rent control in the city in the summer of 2010. I felt like things were finally going great. Recently it has come to my attention that a possible new landlord, Equity Residential, could come into the picture. If I’m not mistaken, this company doesn’t believe in rent control and it is willing to buy properties in a city that is BASED on rent control. What does that mean? To me, it means we could see Page Mill Part 2.

I went through that struggle and it wasn’t pleasant at all. The city and hundreds of tenants are still recovering from that experience and it wouldn’t be wise to go through it again. Wells Fargo, as our current landlord, should consider what is best for the residents and not just base their decision because they have a “good relationship” with Equity. I urge Wells Fargo to stop the sale to Equity Residential and to consider multiple buyers who are willing to keep affordable housing for low-income families.