BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Apartments for the homeless in Palo Alto have cockroaches, fruit flies and plumbing issues, according to a city inspection.
Abode Housing CEO Vivian Wan said her nonprofit is working to fix the issues at the Opportunity Center, but some tenants have resisted pest control.
Code Enforcement Officer Craig Hartley said he found a sink that doesn’t have cold water, a leaky shower, an unsealed bathtub and a hole in a bathroom wall.
The city first issued a notice of violation on April 28 for mold in three hallways and apartments from the second to fifth floor at 33 Encina Ave.
Abode Housing appealed the notice, so Hartley re-inspected the building on June 4 and 10 and issued a new notice on July 6.
Hartley said he found cockroaches in 12 apartments, fruit flies in two apartments and a urine odor in one apartment.
Hartley gave Abode Housing until July 27 to fix any plumbing fixtures and repair any water damage and until Aug. 5 to address the pests.
“A licensed pest control operator must attempt to treat each of the affected units,” Hartley said. “Any refusal of pest
control treatment by a resident must be documented.”
Abode Housing can face $1,000 fines per day for the violations, Hartley said.
Wan said Abode Housing is almost done with the plumbing issues and still working on pest control. She said some pest companies have declined the work because tenants have resisted treatment.
“I’m confident that we’ll correct all the issues … We want to do right by the tenants,” she said in an interview.
The Opportunity Center is a five-story, 88-unit apartment building for people at risk of being homeless, next to the Town and Country Shopping Center.
Abode Housing runs the apartments, and the nonprofit LifeMoves offers services on the first floor.
The building opened in 2006. About 60% of construction costs were paid for by public money, and 40% was covered by donors. Tenants pay rent based on their income.
Typical public housing project. On its way to becoming a dangerous ghetto.
Hey, whatever happened to the idea that this place would provide “transitional housing” to help the homeless get on their feet in a few months? Instead this place is full of people who stay for years on end.
Whether rental housing or privately owned homes, all need regular attention to maintain.
The current issues are being addressed. I assume management will do more maintenance inspections in the future.
The 20-year old Opportunity Center is a valuable asset in Palo Alto not only to its residents but to our entire community. We are fortunate to have it.
Les, it shouldn’t be that hard for you to grasp that there is no housing that people can afford to live in. Therefore, where are they supposed to go?
Also, the only danger in the article is faced by the tenants themselves. Your bigotry is keeping you from comprehending what you read.
How is it bigotry to ask a question? The question is: What happened to the idea that this place would provide “transitional housing” to help the homeless get on their feet in a few months? This was the promise City Council made in 2005 when they pushed through the Opportunity Center over the objections of residents. So why wasn’t the promise kept? This place went from transitional housing designed to help the poor to longterm housing for the very poor. Thousands of poor people are turned away because there are never any vacancies. It looks to me that the strategy the city had to deal with homelessness, which involved the Opportunity Center, has failed. But you can’t discuss this failure or you’re a bigot. I guess that’s your way of shutting down the conversation. Do you work for the City or one of the many nonprofits who get tax funds to deal with homelessness? I want more from my tax dollars than this!
“Typical public housing project. On its way to becoming a dangerous ghetto.”
That’s your bigotry. It informed your assumptions. And “how is it bigotry to ask a question”??? Um, bigoted questions exist. (That particular question was not bigoted. It’s just willfully ignorant about housing costs.)
CG, what happened to the idea that this place would provide “transitional housing” to help the homeless get on their feet in a few months? The residents have become permanent. People on the streets now are turned away when they go to the Opportunity Center. That wouldn’t be happening if the Opportunity Center was truly “transitional housing.” I realize CG that you want to avoid that issue and that’s why you’re making it sound as if asking the question is bigotry. But playing the race card won’t make this problem go away.
“what happened to the idea that this place would provide “transitional housing” to help the homeless get on their feet in a few months?”
What happened to that idea was the basic reality of housing prices in the Bay Area.
I can tell CG hasn’t lived here very long. Housing prices have always been high. Nothing new about that. Sorry, but that’s not an answer to why the transitional housing idea didn’t work.
Housing prices have dramatically climbed by any measure, and it’s not hard at all to inform yourself about that if you’re interested in learning. It’s… really bizarre for you to state otherwise.
If the Opportunity Center were truly transitional housing, it would have ended homelessness for hundreds of residents. That was the promise the city made when this place opened. It’s only fair to ask why that didn’t happen. It’s not bigotry. It’s a desire to solve a problem.