Fifteen former tenants who were survivors of a fire that occurred in a West Oakland halfway house last month filed a lawsuit against the landlord of the home, alleging that he is to blame for their living conditions not being up to code, which ultimately led to the fire. The fire caused the demise of four residents and injured six others.  More than 80 people lost their homes. The defendants named in the suit are Keith Kim and his company Mead Avenue Housing Associates, along with Urojas Community Services, and other nonprofit organizations that held the master lease during different periods of time.  The plaintiffs allege that once Dignity Housing West took over as master tenant, Urojas entered the picture, which led to numerous problems.

Residents had been alerting the landlord to countless problems but either nothing was done, or repairs were “shoddy” quick fixes. “In the months leading up to the fire, Mead Avenue had such sufficient concerns about the Urojas tenants that it had taken steps with the City of Oakland to remove Urojas from the property and replace it with a city approved non-profit,” Kim’s attorney said in the statement.[caption id="attachment_18784" align="alignnone" width="219"]Attorney Ken Greenstein; image Courtesy of The Mercury News

"I didn't hear no alarms.  All I heard was people banging on walls, that was the alert," said Eliza Anderson, 29, who was living in the building at the time.  She is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.  "There was no sprinklers wetting us as were were going out.  Nothing.  It was just pitch black, like a barbecue grill."  Anderson had to kick down the door of her elderly aunt who was also residing there and guided her aunt along with her children to safety using only the light of her cell phone.  “By the time we got down to the ground … you could see the flames coming through the fire escape,” she said.“In the weeks since the fire, Mr. Kim has been unfairly criticized in the media for the actions of the current master tenants,” says Kronenberg. “This is unfortunate and I am confident that as the facts are brought to light the true responsibility for the operation and management of the building will become clear.”

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Oakland tenants sue landlord, nonprofits over halfway house fire, ‘slum-like living’Oakland landlord speaks: He’s ‘heartbroken’ over deadly fire