Relocation of Tenants Challenged

A Latino rights group has complained to city officials that people being relocated for renovation of an apartment complex are being denied full benefits.

Formulas being used by Pacific Relocation Consultants, the firm hired by the city of Orange to handle the $4.5-million relocation project, are inequitable, said Nativo V. Lopez, executive director of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional.

The tenants of Villa Santiago apartments on Prospect Street asked the Santa Ana-based activist group to represent them, Lopez said in a letter this week to Mary Ellen Laster, the city’s housing rehabilitation manager.

Laster said she has agreed to meet with Lopez early next week to hear tenant concerns.

The letter listed eight complaints about the relocation company. The most serious is that the case workers are “trying to force nonrelated persons and multiple families to live together upon displacement under the threat of reduced benefits,” the letter states.

Steve Oliver of Pacific Relocation said Thursday that his company is not forcing any families to relocate to overcrowded conditions, which would violate federal law.

Overcrowding was one of the prime concerns cited by the city when it announced the redevelopment plan in July. The city is contributing more than $7 million to renovate the 260-unit apartment complex, long a source of code violation complaints and citations.

Oliver said his company considered the number of people in each unit and other factors, such as income, to come up with its formula for relocating tenants and compensating them.