We have developed exceptional expertise in the area of low income housing construction. As a result, our lawyers are frequently called upon to provide transactional assistance for organizations seeking to build low income housing. Members of our Real Estate Practice have welcomed these pro bono opportunities. Sonnenschein has also partnered with national organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and local organizations, such as Kansas' Johnson County Housing Coalition, in an effort to increase the availability of affordable housing in low income neighborhoods.

Rooming House Tenant Gets Fresh Start

Finding affordable housing in San Francisco can be extremely challenging. That is why attorneys in Sonnenschein's San Francisco office were eager to assist a rooming house tenant whose landlords sued to have her evicted after she complained about a spike in her utility bills. The case came to Sonnenschein through the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. Sonnenschein staffs twice-yearly legal aid clinics for the organization, responding to inquiries from individuals of very modest means who are seeking legal counsel on a range of matters.  The woman visited the clinic last winter, seeking legal representation after the building owners filed suit in San Francisco Superior Court seeking to evict her from their ramshackle building.

Sonnenschein attorneys, including Don Carley, Mike Day and Hillary Kalay mounted an aggressive defense on the woman's behalf in the pending court action and also made her case in an administrative proceeding before the San Francisco Rent Board. Although zoned as a single-family dwelling, the building where she lived had been remodeled to provide separate rooms for rent in addition to a suite of rooms occupied by the owners.  Following a period of heavy and disruptive construction work on the premises, the owners of the building increased tenants' utility assessments substantially without explanation. Sonnenschein attorneys contended that the building's increased utility costs constituted an unlawful rent increase under the San Francisco Rent Ordinance.

A few days after the San Francisco Rent Board issued a preliminary ruling favorable to the tenant, the building owners settled the litigation against their tenant in an amount equivalent to more than 12 months' rent. The settlement meant that the woman could move out of the building in June with the knowledge that she could afford to rent another apartment. The landlords had argued before the Rent Board that the property was a single-family dwelling and therefore did not fall under the San Francisco Rent Ordinance. However, the Rent Board concluded that the zoning or legal status of a building is immaterial when a purportedly "single-family dwelling" is operated as a rooming house with separate rooms rented to multiple unrelated tenants, and that such rooms are subject to the jurisdiction of the Rent Board.

Ivor Samson, who oversees the pro bono program in the San Francisco office, commented, "While the result that they got was phenomenal, I am even more impressed by the way this team jumped into the fray, literally working around the clock and over a holiday weekend to file motions and achieve a favorable result on this woman's behalf."

Organizations Merge to aid Psychiatric Patients

Ron Sitton represented the Project for Psychiatric Outreach to the Homeless, Inc. (PPOH), an award-winning New York nonprofit, in the sale of its assets a second New York nonprofit, the Center for Urban Community Services, Inc. (CUCS). The pro bono matter was referred to us in February 2005 by Lawyers Alliance for New York. Ron participated in PPOH board meetings, structured the transaction with CUCS, conducted due diligence and drafted the agreement, which involved the sale of PPOH's assets to CUCS.

The two organizations entered into an asset purchase agreement in March 2006, followed by many months awaiting governmental approval of the transaction. PPOH provided psychiatric services and ran outreach programs, drop-in centers, homeless shelters, transitional housing, and supportive housing facilities for homeless and formerly homeless individuals with mental illnesses. CUCS, which provides similar and complementary services to those of PPOH, assumed the operations of PPOH on Oct. 31. PPOH was the 2004 recipient of the American Psychiatric Association's first annual Minority Mental Health Award.

"PPOH is a wonderful organization with management and participants dedicated to the wellbeing of the community it serves. It was a natural transition for PPOH's operations to come under the umbrella of CUCS and we are excited about the future of the combined resources," says Ron.