Canal Residents Deal With Cockroaches, Rats, Housing Discrimination

When Canal resident Omar Guerroro goes to pay his rent, he hears tenants complain to the landlord about cockroaches and rats in their apartments.

“I have a lot of friends who have rats and roaches,” he said. “They do fumigation, but most of the time it’s not enough.”

In the winter, Guerroro’s windows leak and his carpet becomes moist. “It gets so cold,” he said, but he knows even after it’s fixed that “the next winter it’s going to happen again.”

Guerroro’s troubles are common for many living in the low-income and densely populated 2.5 square mile stretch east of Highway 580 known as the Canal neighborhood in San Rafael. Many tenants struggle with pest problems, below-standard repairs and discrimination from landlords.

Canal neighbors told Marin authorities in a July 27 meeting they feel trapped in their living situations because of access to transportation and fear of retaliation from property owners if they complain.

“That is discrimination because that doesn’t happen in other communities. That doesn’t happen in San Anselmo,” said Sandy Ponek, family programs director for nonprofit .

In January 2011, Marin County authorities signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to research the barriers racial and ethnic minorities confront when living in Marin.

More than a year before the agreement, HUD scolded white-washed Marin for it’s lack of diversity, saying it was in violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and two other anti-discrimination laws.

While 80 percent of Marin’s population is white, nearly one quarter of San Rafael’s population is Hispanic or Latino, according to the 2010 census. Somewhere between 12,000 to 15,000 people, or approximately 26 percent of San Rafael’s population, live in the Canal neighborhood.

The has held six public meetings to address housing discrimination. Many renters face opposition when they cannot provide social security numbers or when they have children when applying for housing.

Last week, a young mom with three children was told no apartments were available when she went to apply. “She came to [Canal Alliance] and we called, and yes there were apartments available,” Ponek said. “That’s really common.”

Families are allowed two people for every bedroom plus one extra person for the unit, according to Fair Housing of Marin Executive Director Nancy B. Kenyon.

Many in the Canal neighborhood are unauthorized workers, and fear retaliation from landlords should they complain.

Rocio Lopez told the Community Development Agency that many renters don’t know who owns their apartment. Their complaints are mostly verbal, not written and when they do complain, nothing happens.

“We can find cockroaches in the middle of the night. They’re all over your food,” she said.  “But can you imagine [not having papers] and having to face a landlord? So they just shut their mouths and they keep nice and quiet.”

Although there are strong protections against retaliation for filing a fair housing complaint, the same does not exist for code violations, Kenyon said.

The easy access to busses at the San Rafael transit terminal and higher rent in other neighborhoods makes it difficult to move. “It’s like you have no choice,” Lopez said.

A committee made up of Marin supervisors and public officials, including San Rafael Vice Mayor Greg Brockbank, will present a plan to HUD in October, detailing how to make Marin housing more accessible. The next public meeting is on Aug. 24.

“This is the first time I’m hearing this,” Brockbank said, “and I’ve been a tenant attorney for 25 years and an elected official for 22 years.”