East Palo Alto tenants demand property owners improve living conditions

Mold. Cockroaches. Broken windows. Faulty plumbing.

These are a few of the problems residents of three East Palo Alto apartment buildings along one residential street say they have lived with for years. Complaints, they say, have gone unheard for too long.

On Thursday afternoon, around 10 residents gathered in the office of the property owner, Sand Hill Property Company, to deliver a list of demands. The dozens of requests included repairs, pest control and improved security.

“Now, they heard,” said Maggie Bande, one of the residents who read the letter aloud Thursday. “It sort of gives us a little peace.”

The movement to organize began when residents received a notice that the properties they live in, three buildings along East Okeefe Street, had been put up for sale. Confused by what the notice meant for the future of their buildings, tenants reached out to the local social justice group Youth United for Community Action, who contacted the Bay Area’s Regional Tenant Organizing Network (TRO).

When the TRO began asking more questions, they realized tenants were living in poor conditions, said TRO director James Huynh. Last month, around 50 tenants — out of the around 60 total units — signed a petition to form a union, Huynh said. Tenants mailed a list of demands to Sand Hill last Tuesday but received what they saw as an insufficient response, leading to Thursday’s in-person demonstration at the company’s swanky Palo Alto office.

“We are committed to ensuring that all the Woodland Park Apartments are safe and habitable at all times,” a spokesperson for Sand Hill Property Company wrote to this news organization. “These buildings are managed by Greystar Property Management, who works hard to track and complete all work orders in a timely fashion, and either have resolved or are in the process of resolving all open maintenance requests.”

Greystar Property Management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tenants and organizers squeezed into the office lobby as two tenants began to read out their demands in English and Spanish. A dozen Youth United for Community Action members held a banner reading “E. OKEEFE TENANT ASSOCIATION.” A handful of employees came into the lobby, which was silent as residents read a long list of grievances.

“It was a challenge for me to go out there,” one tenant, Jesús Villalón, said in Spanish. “I just wanted to make sure my voice was heard.”

On one of the office walls, a flat screen TV played a slideshow of Sand Hill Property Company’s other properties. Their portfolio includes dozens of Silicon Valley properties that evoke images of techie utopias. The Innovation Curve, a complex of futuristic buildings at the edge of Stanford Research Park. A Cupertino Whole Foods, as well as the picturesque mixed-use mall down the block. Two theaters. One property sticks out from their portfolio — the 1,800-unit, rent-controlled Woodland Park apartments, which include the East Okeefe Street buildings, built in the early 1960s.

Freddy Roman, a 38-year-old landscaper, has lived on East Okeefe Street for 13 years. He says there have been unresolved maintenance issues in his apartment throughout his time at the property.

“It’s not in conditions fit for habitation,” Roman said in Spanish. “They don’t pay attention to us.”

When he reports a maintenance issue, Roman says, someone will come out to fix it, but the problem isn’t permanently resolved. And the stakes are now higher — Roman and his wife are expecting their first child, a baby girl, in just over a week.

“She has to be in good conditions,” Roman said.

Despite the problems, the Roman family is reluctant to consider relocating. The aging building is protected by the city’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance — the couple pays $1,500 per month in rent for a one-bedroom apartment.

Villalón, who works as a valet, also hasn’t considered leaving. He has lived on East Okeefe Street since he first moved to the U.S. from Mexico in the fifth grade. He lives with his aunt in a two-bedroom for $2,200 per month, and he has more family members along the street. Villalón said that though his windows don’t close all the way, making for chilly winters, it doesn’t make sense to move.

“It’s a place that feels like home,” he said. “I don’t wanna leave.”

Sand Hill Property Company’s COO Jason Villarreal and CFO Igor Aleksandrov were present at Thursday’s reading. They introduced themselves and said they were open to working with the association and addressing residents’ concerns.

Huynh said the response from Villarreal and Aleksandrov on Thursday was a good sign.

“I think it all went as well as it could. The hope is that they’re true to their word,” Huynh said.