Transitional housing tenants get their apartments back

About 40 residents lived at the Mayfair Apartments in Stockton, California. They had supports from the Community Reentry Program in conjunction with San Joaquin County Mental Health.

City says tenants at fault

When a fire destroyed part of the building, residents were evacuated. Stockton tried to keep residents from going back to their apartments by claiming that allowing mental health clients to live in the building violated health and safety ordinances, and licensing regulations. The city claimed that:

  1. One of the tenants had set the fire;
  2. Some tenants did not evacuate immediately; and
  3. The fire department had to use extra resources in their search and rescue.

Some tenants left behind

Advocates and attorneys from PAI and California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) interviewed Mayfair's staff and tenants. They found that most of the tenants evacuated independently, and that the fire department did not evacuate several tenants who were home at the time.

Tenants ask for help

The city wanted the apartment complex to convert to a licensed facility and install fire sprinklers. The apartment owner's attorney appealed. The tenants asked PAI for help getting back into their apartments.

Mayfair was home

Many tenants had been living at Mayfair Apartments for years. They considered the building their home. PAI staff teamed with CRLA to send a demand letter to the city explaining that Stockton could not:

  1. Apply or interpret its ordinances, fire code, or state law in a way that excluded people with disabilities from housing; or
  2. Impose requirements on one building that did not apply to other buildings.

Landlord makes repairs

After the landlord and the city came to an agreement on the city's concerns about building safety, the landlord withdrew his appeal. The tenants chose not to appeal. They decided to wait and move back into the building once repairs were done.

Clients move back in

When the landlord completed repairs, most of PAI's clients moved back into their apartments. Some had already found other housing. A few didn't want to move back in. PAI staff involved in the case included Sherri Rita and Luana Horstkotte, staff attorneys in Sacramento; Eric Gelber, Sacramento's managing attorney; Kim Swain, managing attorney in Oakland; and Dara Schur, PAI's litigation director. Co-counsel was California Rural Legal Assistance of Stockton.