The Cortez Family: No Home for the Holidays
On the morning of Tuesday, December 9, dozens of Bay Area housing rights activists and Filipino-American community advocates rallied outside the Daly City office of private money lender Saxe Mortgage in protest of the wrongful eviction case against SoMa residents Alex and Melinda Cortez. The action was organized by SOMCAN, in coordination with the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment and United Playaz. Members of the Filipino Community Center, Migrante Northern California, Senior & Disability Action and SOMA Pilipinas were also in attendance.
Despite the cold, the community members gathered were in high spirits, chanting slogans while holding up homemade signs and banners. One memorable sign read: “Even Bob Cratchit had a roof over his head”, [referring to Ebenezer Scrooge’s abused clerk from A Christmas Carol]. Various speakers, including Daly City Mayor Juslyn Manalo, took to the mic to express solidarity with the beleaguered couple. Also addressing the crowd were Michael and Connie Juarez of 79 - 28th Street in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood; the elderly couple is undergoing an Ellis Act eviction by Gene Kristul, the President of Saxe Mortgage, who privately owns their apartment.
Alex and Melinda are a married couple who immigrated to the United States from the Philippines. They purchased their Russ Street home in 1994 and have been a part of the neighborhood fabric ever since. Now in their retirement years, the Cortezes had expected to enjoy the financial security and peace of mind that they worked hard for all their lives. Instead, after initiating major reconstruction to their building to comply with City regulations, they fell victim to a series of predatory loans that they were unable to pay back, and were foreclosed on without warning or consultation. They now await court rights. The legal proceedings have adversely impacted the physical and mental health of Melissa, 87 years old, and her husband Alex, who is in his 70s.
The Cortez case is just the latest example of how real estate speculation and land grabbing are fueling
the rapid displacement of middle class and working class people from San Francisco and the Greater Bay Area. “This is elder abuse, plain and simple,” commented Raymond Castillo, SOMCAN’s Tenant Organizer. “We call on Gene Kristul to do the right thing and either stop the eviction and let the Cortezes stay on as tenants, or reverse the foreclosure and restructure their loan to make it more affordable.” Up until the rally, Kristul had continually refused to meet with the Cortezes’ representatives.
