About a dozen activists with the advocacy group Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) stormed the lobby of a downtown office building Friday morning demanding to speak to a PR representative of the real estate corporation Blackstone.
The group says the corporate landlord is threatening to evict low-income renters.
“Our main message was to demand that Blackstone, this multibillion-dollar corporate landlord, stop evicting families here in San Diego county,” said Sarah Guzman with ACCE.
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The small protest illustrates the growing tensions between landlords and tenants. In the City of San Diego, an eviction moratorium ended in October.
Blackstone owns 66 affordable housing buildings with roughly 5,600 apartment units in San Diego County. The tenant rights group says some 20,000 low-income families live in the units.
Blackstone would not say how many eviction notices have been sent out, but added none have been completed.
Meanwhile, a letter written by Escondido City Councilmember Consuelo Martinez to ACCE acknowledged about 100 tenants at two Blackstone buildings in Escondido have delinquent accounts.
The company released the following statement to NBC 7:
“We did not evict a single tenant for non-payment for two years during the pandemic. Our goal is for residents to remain in their homes and we encourage residents who are behind on rent to speak with their property manager about options available to them.”
Many of the protesters chanted, holding handmade signs that read "no evictions." One of them was Layla Miller.
“I just want them to know that there are families that are struggling still after the pandemic. And we need help,” said Miller.
Miller said she received an eviction notice last month after falling behind on her $1,380 monthly rent payment for her two-bedroom apartment in Chula Vista.
“I’m not trying to put all the blame on Blackstone. I’m out here trying every day. It’s just so stressful and depressing to think that you’re working six days a week, 16 hours a day sometimes and I still can’t pay my rent. It’s just sad,” said Miller.
“Obviously these people aren’t paying rent, not because they just don’t want to, but because they literally weren’t able to come up with the full amount due to emergencies,” said Guzman.
The tenant rights group acknowledges many tenants have fallen behind in their rents and are working to catch up. But at the very least, the group wants residents to know their rights while asking Blackstone to be more flexible with payment options.
