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Residents at Redwood Gardens in Berkeley, a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) project for low income seniors and people with disabilities, are experiencing increasing dissatisfaction with the project management company, Cooperative Service Inc (CSI). Redwood Gardens is a complex of 169 apartments, gardens and meeting spaces located at 2951 Derby. It was originally established as a co-op but that is no longer its status. Management makes decisions and takes action without seeking input from the residents. Complaints, questions, requests are often simply ignored. There have been long delays in correcting hazardous conditions and ADA violations, as well as security threats and disregard for the health and welfare of those who are particularly fragile. 

Last year Redwood Gardens received some publicity when management announced plans for major renovations and residents protested that they had had virtually no input on either the plans or the process by which they would actually be carried out. More and more residents were expressing their intense frustration with the disruption in their lives as it was happening. People appealed for help from the manager, the workers and anybody they could reach connected with the building. 

Co-chairs of the Residents' Council, Eleanor Walden and Gary Hicks, have been reaching out for help from community organizations; legal assistance for seniors, disability rights, housing action, as well as city committees and departments but virtually nothing has been available to them! Eleanor Walden explains: “We're in an interesting position. The land that we're on is owned by the University of California, the buildings are owned by CSI, we are in the city of Berkeley and nobody wants to take responsibility for what goes on here.” They decided that they have to reach out nationally. 

Some years ago Gary Hicks had worked with the National Association of HUD Tenants (NAHT) in Boston and he suggested they get in contact with the organization. Learning that they represent HUD tenants Walden says “we joined for $25 and we've been on telephone conversations and linked into them in several ways.” 

The NAHT website states “NAHT works with organizers across the country to unite tenants in project-based Section 8 housing. Through outreach and training, tenants are mobilized to fight to preserve their housing and their rights. We are a diverse network of over 300 building-level tenant unions, area and state-wide coalitions, tenant organizing projects, legal service agencies, and other housing-related tenant organizations.” 

From June 21 to 23 NAHT is holding their 21st annual Save Our Homes Conference in Washington D.C. Eleanor Walden and another active resident, Avram Gur Arye, will be attending. They are raising funds for their expenses from fellow residents and supporters. 

For the first two days there will be more than 20 tenant-run workshops on diverse subjects ranging from immediate practical issues, “How to replace substandard management”, “How to build strong tenant associations”, to political and global issues, “How the federal budget crisis threatens our homes”, “How to join with Occupy to tax the 1%”, “How to build a global movement for housing as a human right” are just a few of the topics on the list. The third day, June 23, is designated as Lobby Day when the participants will “meet with top officials from HUD and take the message to Congress.” 

Avram Gur Arye is an architect. His work has been in housing and he understands peoples' needs for comfort and security. He is thoroughly familiar with all the relevant regulations, departments and commissions, where and who to go to in the city for information and assistance. This is particularly valuable in the situation the the Redwood Gardens tenants are in. 

But he has only recently become an activist. “The last 6 years” he says, “when I came to Berkeley. Berkeley did this to me. I was an ordinary architect, working in housing, doing good work, in San Francisco and Oakland but I was a-political.” Asked why he chose to be a delegate to the convention he said that “The main thing motivating me is making sure that, whether I'm going to be in HUD housing the rest of my life or not, I want to make certain that the safety net of HUD housing is kept and that it stays a government agency not a privatized agency.” Recognizing the need for political action not only locally but on a national level he is excited about connecting with the people and the work of the Alliance. “ I have both a local and national agenda” he says, “first the situation here at Redwood gardens and then to use that as a stepping board to get active on the national level on national issues. My background (in architecture) prepares me, I know what should be here.” 

Eleanor Walden describes herself as “an old activist”. The way to get things done, she declares, is by 'nudging'. She lays out her approach to the building management; “OK we have a complaint, a legitimate complaint. We're not just going to send it to the manager, or to the corporation or to this one or that one, we're going to send it to everyone. We're going to get HUD involved, we're going to be a bug on their behind until they give us some attention.” She illustrated her tactics last year when the management announced a plan to convert a community sitting room into a laundry which the tenants were very unhappy about. She suggested groups of people keep the room occupied during working hours and put ot the word that they were conducting a sit-in. Those words got the attention of the press, even Channel 2 was there! 

The conference presents a great opportunity for her to help her community. “What I hope to do is to take my expertise, my background of activism to the conference, make our agenda known, and to bring back contact and information to help the people here realize 'hey, we can raise our voices, we can say what we want, we are not alone, were not individuals any more, we're a group.'” And she will be able to to connect with government officials and housing activists all over the country. On lobbying day there will be meetings with HUD representatives. “Lobbying is what Washington is all about.” She is emphatic, “We have a voice. We, the people who need housing, people who are sleeping on the grass in Peoples Park or being warehoused in some old age home because they can't afford anything.” 

The political outlook for the future does not look promising for the 99 percent. There is an increasing trend in Congress and on the state and local level to cut appropriations for housing and transportation, and generally for programs that provide health and human services for people in need. In connecting with the NAHT, delegates Walden and Arye are demonstrating to the Redwood Gardens tenants the importance of keeping informed and politically active to maintain a decent quality of life not only around immediate local issues but nationally as well..