FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: For media inquiries, please contact Lina Blanco, North Bay Organizing Project • (253) 347-5130 • lblanco@northbayop.org • Media from this event and court documents can be provided upon request.
Santa Rosa, California. – Faith, immigrant, and tenant leaders will host a protest and press conference at Santa Rosa’s Sunset Mobile Home Park to speak out against a retaliatory eviction and harassment by property owner Echelon Communities LLC on Tuesday, June 27 at 11:00am at the intersection of Elsa Dr. and Santa Rosa Ave. (2930 Santa Rosa Ave).
Several immigrant families will share their stories about harassment, abuse, intimidation, and retaliation with stories from Eduardo Escamilla – a cancer survivor with a serious kidney disease and heart issues – and his wife Luisa Cordero.
“We worked very hard to buy this house,” says Luisa Cordero. “I have cleaned houses for many years and my husband works as a cook. Perhaps for the owner of the park this is just business, but for us, it is our home that we managed to pay for with a lot of sacrifice. This situation is causing us a lot of stress and we live in constant fear of eviction … We know that many tenants are in situations like this and we stand with them in pursuit of housing justice. We want [Echelon Communities] to stop retaliating, respect our rights as tenants, and we can live in peace.”
In March 2023, residents of Sunset Mobile Home Park won their case against Echelon Communities LLC for illegal rent increases, with the California Superior Court issuing a judgment to award the families $47,244.10. After conducting repairs to make their home more livable during the 2022 winter storms, Eduardo and Luisa were repeatedly presented with 7-day notices by Echelon, despite filing a request for Reasonable Accommodations due to Eduardo’s disabilities which the company refused. In April 2023, Echelon presented Eduardo and Luisa a 60-day eviction notice.
Eduardo and Luisa, both local small business owners, are now in danger of losing their home. Because Eduardo’s survival depends on weekly dialysis treatments, facing a traumatic eviction while sick could be devastating to his long-term health. Public health studies show that evicted adults have higher all-cause mortality, with worse self-reported physical health. The couple has since filed their complaint with the California Civil Rights Department for Housing Discrimination, Harassment, Retaliation.
"The retaliation that's happening at Sunset Mobile Home Park illustrates exactly why tenants often don't stand up for themselves," says Michael Titone, a board member of the Sonoma County Tenants Union. "This is why as a community, we need to stand with these residents and call this retaliation out for what it is. No one should be evicted for exercising their rights and challenging their landlord's illegal behavior."
This press conference will be accompanied by a picket of supporters outside of Sunset Mobile Home Park. For the press conference agenda, please contact Lina Blanco at (253) 347-5130 • lblanco@northbayop.org
This event is organized by the North Bay Organizing Project and Sonoma County Tenants Union.
The North Bay Organizing Project – The North Bay Organizing Project (NBOP) is a multiracial, multi-issue, grassroots organization of more than twenty-two religious, environmental, labor, student, and community organizations in Sonoma County. NBOP seeks to build a regional power organization rooted in the working class and communities of color in the North Bay.
Sonoma County Tenants Union – The Sonoma County Tenants Union (SCTU) builds tenant power through embedding anti-racist, anti-capitalist, and intersectional feminist principles in our work in solidarity with other movements for collective organizing. We strive for transformative change around housing rights, practices, and policies, and thus elevate the experiences, knowledge, and needs of those most affected by our current systems: low-income people of color, people with disabilities, trans and queer people, undocumented people and unhoused people.