Tenants at Two Buildings Organize to Remain in Their Homes During Pandemic, End Landlord Harassment

Like many across the nation, tenants at two buildings in Long Beach have been struggling with job loss, quarantine, and the anxiety of contracting COVID-19. But for months, they’ve also been dealing with fears of losing the homes many of them have lived in for years.

Tenants at 436 Daisy Ave. and 1454 Orange Ave. say they’ve been harassed by their landlord, Bradley Johnson, and threatened with rent increases. Additionally, tenants at the Daisy Avenue building were recently served with a 60-day notice to vacate their units, with permits attached outlining repairs to the building, a requirement for evicting tenants the City Council imposed during the crisis.

The repairs Johnson listed on the notices include installing new cabinets and fixtures in the units’ bathrooms and kitchens.

“My youngest son was the first one to see the paper he (Johnson) left,” said Oscar Valencia, referring to the 60-day notice. “… And even though he’s a kid, he worries too.”

Like most tenants at both buildings, Valencia is a Spanish speaker who does not speak English. He had portions of the notice explained to him by his children. Similarly, Porfirio De La Rosa had his brother’s children explain the notice to him.

“We didn’t know exactly what it said, which made it have a greater impact on us,” Porfirio said in Spanish. “You feel it even more. It stresses one out.”

Documents filed with the Secretary of State list Johnson as the manager or member of the two LLCs that separately own the buildings, each named after the respective property’s address. Tenants at both buildings claim that Johnson has not provided leases in Spanish, their preferred language, despite them requesting he do so.

As of publication time, Johnson has not responded to an email requesting an interview.

Aurelia Ortega, who lives at the Orange Avenue building, claims one of Johnson’s workers translated and told her of a rent increase when explaining a contract the landlord wanted her to sign. But she said the man did not mention the new security deposit, which she learned of by talking to her neighbors.

Meanwhile, Silvia De La Rosa said that Johnson has, on multiple occasions, woken up her son to translate for him. According to Silvia, he stopped doing so in September because her son is busy with school.

“Since I don’t know English, he’d enter my son’s room to wake him up so he could tell me what he wanted,” Silvia said. “And my son would say to me ‘What is with him, why does he always wake me up?’ And after that I wouldn’t open the door for him anymore.”

Silvia, who was employed cleaning offices, has been unable to work due to the pandemic and an injury. She said she was threatened with a $600 rent increase in July by Johnson, which would have upped her monthly payment from $900 to $1,500. But because Silvia has refused to sign a new lease with Johnson, she has continued to pay her original rent, but uncertainty still looms over the residents.

“He says he has to displace us,” Silvia said. “One feels pressured, stressed, and thinks ‘What will he do to us?’ Because all he does is harass us.”

The rent increases vary by tenant and building, but are higher than the state’s tenant protection law allows. Aurelia Ortega, who lives at the Orange Avenue building, said she was told her rent would increase from $1,250 to $1,750. Her neighbor, Sendi Quintana, said hers would be increasing from $1,295 to $1,750.

“The anxiety I get when he (Johnson) comes is too much,” Quintana said in Spanish.

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She said her unit has mold in the bathroom and bedroom, which she expects to worsen when it rains. Though a crew sent by Johnson did make some repairs, Quintana and other tenants in her building say they continue to live in discomfort due to cockroaches, rats, and having their building’s security doors removed.

The tenants also allege that the crew who made the repairs, as well as Johnson himself, have not worn masks when working around them or entering their units. Tenant Rosa Villaseñor claimed she was mocked after pointing this out to the man in charge of the repair crew.

“I believe he told the workers, and the workers would laugh at me,” Villaseñor said in Spanish. “They’d say ‘Here comes the coronavirus lady’ or ‘Put on the masks’ as they passed by coughing.”

Silvia also said they didn’t use masks at her building, which made her family uncomfortable.

“[Johnson] would come and bring them donuts, and they’d be drinking their coffee inside. And they never used masks,” Silvia said. “My son would worry because he doesn’t go out. My son would be in his class in a room and tell me ‘Mom, if it’s possible don’t go out because they don’t use masks.’”

Villaseñor said they were treated “like animals” and she had to take medicine due to the stress these events caused her.  

“They made us feel like we didn’t matter to them,” Villaseñor said.

Organizers with the Long Beach Tenants Union, who have been helping the tenants, hope that an anti-harassment ordinance will help ease the tenants’ worries and hold their landlord accountable.

“It would give them a right of action and the policy itself would serve as a deterrent from landlords actually committing harassment,” said Andrew Mandujano, an organizer with the Long Beach Tenants Union.

The anti-harassment ordinance will be discussed at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, and voted on at the next meeting. Agendized by Vice Mayor Dee Andrews (CD-6), the ordinance outlines 13 actions that could result in a landlord being served with a civil proceeding by a tenant.

Violations listed in the policy include failing to perform timely repairs required by law or a rental agreement, and communicating with tenants in a language that isn’t their primary language, to intimidate or deceive the tenant.

“If you want tenants to feel like they are being heard, like their experiences are validated, and they can fight against abuse and violence in their communities, this is a representation of that,” said Maria Lopez, director of community organizing for Housing Long Beach.

The tenants also say they want rent increases to follow the law, and they hope they’ll be able to stay in their homes along with the neighbors they’ve come to know and bond with.

“We see each other like family,” Ortega said. “We take care of each other. It’s a trust that is familial, which makes it really difficult for us to follow his way [and relocate].”