Officials Move to Help Families Losing Homes in Mass Eviction
State officials and private business groups stepped up efforts Thursday to help nearly 600 Northern California families being uprooted from their rental homes by the Japanese billionaire who owns the properties.
The California Assn. of Mortgage Brokers announced that its members will waive home sale fees and commissions to any of the displaced tenants who seek to buy homes.
Meanwhile, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) joined the chorus of politicians--including Gov. Gray Davis--asking the Japanese Embassy to plead with owner Gensiro Kawamoto to give the tenants more time.
About two weeks ago, property managers for Kawamoto delivered eviction notices to tenants in 420 homes in the Sacramento region and an additional 150 in Santa Rosa.
The tenants, some of whom have lived in the homes for years, were given 30 days to move out.
The threatened mass eviction caused a firestorm of protest and fear, as residents of whole neighborhoods faced being uprooted.
A representative for Kawamoto, who leads a reclusive lifestyle, said the Japanese investor needed to unload the houses quickly to finance investment opportunities that become available only every few decades, but did not elaborate.
Other local landlords, facing a public relations nightmare as tenants flood an already tight rental market, stepped up in the early days of the crisis to offer reduced rents and deposits to ease relocation. Real estate agents, meanwhile, swooped down on the neighborhoods, offering mortgages with no down payment.
The state mortgage brokers association weighed in with its offer to waive commissions and closing costs. That could save $3,000 to $5,000 for each of the hundreds of tenants whose “lives have been turned upside down,” said Michael McGee, president of the group, which represents 2,000 brokers. “Those are not insignificant dollars,” said Assembly Republican Leader Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks). Cox’s district includes many of the tenants affected in the Sacramento-area communities of Citrus Heights, Orangevale, Antelope and Rocklin.
But the tenants will be pressed for time to take advantage of such savings. Though some have the income and credit to purchase a low-cost house, such deals usually take months to complete.
“No matter what kind of ideal arrangements they get from lenders they’re not going to be able to swing it in 21/2 weeks,” said David Swanson, a spokesman for Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now, a national grass-roots group.
“There has to be an interim solution. Mr. Kawamoto has to cut these people a little slack.”
Earlier this week, Cox and several other lawmakers contacted the Japanese ambassador, hoping that pressure could be put on Kawamoto to give tenants more time.
Howard Gantman, a spokesman for Feinstein, said the senator dispatched a letter to the ambassador Thursday asking for help.
Feinstein’s staff is also checking with federal housing and mortgage lending authorities to see what assistance they can provide, Gantman said.
