By Josué Monroy, Good Times, May 22, 2024
In November 2023, Maria Hernandez was looking forward to the upcoming holiday season and spending time with loved ones. But her world was turned upside down when she received a notice to vacate from the property manager of her apartment complex in Santa Cruz. After 14 years of renting her Campbell Street apartment, the notice gave her only 60 days to move.
“It was very shocking for me,” Hernandez says in Spanish, her voice cracking with emotion. “I didn’t know what to do and Christmas was coming up.”
Wilder Associates, the management company of the Campbell Street property, gave Hernandez a “Notice of Termination of Tenancy” on Nov. 20. Despite being a model tenant, she was given until Jan. 20, 2024 to vacate—less than 90 days—with the stated reason for the eviction being the owner’s intent to “demolish or substantially remodel the Premises.”
Hernandez, a single mother of two, consulted with her English teacher and also leaders of her church, who are part of Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action (COPA), a group that promotes community advocacy. They all directed her toward Tenant Sanctuary, a tenants rights education service in Santa Cruz County. After connecting with the organization, she was assigned a lawyer for just $50. Hernandez, who is on disability insurance for debilitating arthritis and is unable to work, is still living in her apartment while her legal counsel mediates with Wilder Associates.
Tenant Sanctuary is part of the Eviction Defense Collaborative, or EDC—a larger, countywide organization founded in 2020. The EDC is a collaborative effort between (NPC Members) Community Bridges, Senior Legal Services and the Conflict Resolution Center. To date, the EDC has helped nearly 300 households involved in disputes with landlords. Each of the county-based organizations mediates at different stages of tenant-landlord disputes, seeking to resolve them without going to court.
In Santa Cruz County, where the rental market is one of the highest in the nation, an eviction can prove catastrophic for families and individuals. Despite the success that EDC has had in keeping tenants in their homes, its leaders are concerned about the future of the collaborative with funding on track to run out by summer.
Read more, including remarks by Senior Legal Services Executive Director Tanya Ridino, Santa Cruz County Administative Officer Carlos Palacios, and CEO of Community Bridges Ray Cancino.