$6.8 Billion Private Equity Firm is Evicting a Tacoma Educator and Her Family, Who Face Homelessness

Tacoma for All Statement to the Media

Tacoma substitute teacher Cathy Pick and her family are facing imminent eviction after job losses led them to fall behind on rent. “We had to make a choice whether to pay our rent or buy food,” Cathy said. “We’re both hardworking and responsible adults, but with both Kevin and I losing jobs in the same year, it just devastated our household financially. We’re back on track now and want to resume our repayment agreement, but the landlord is refusing to give us another chance.” The eviction protections in Initiative #1 would provide Cathy’s family a right to that second chance.

PROTEST PLANNED TO STOP THE EVICTION:

Tacoma for All is calling a rally on Wednesday, at 5:30 PM at S. 12th and S. Mildred outside the Lakeside Landing Apartments to call on the property manager, alongside the San Francisco private equity firm that owns the complex, to revoke the eviction order.
RSVP here: www.bit.ly/t4aprotects

Tacoma substitute teacher Cathy Pick and her family are facing imminent eviction after job losses led them to fall behind on rent. “We had to make a choice whether to pay our rent or buy food,” Cathy said. “We’re both hardworking and responsible adults, but with both Kevin and I losing jobs in the same year, it just devastated our household financially. We’re back on track now and want to resume our repayment agreement, but the landlord is refusing to give us another chance.” The eviction protections in Initiative #1 would provide Cathy’s family a right to that second chance.

Pick’s 14-year-old son is in 8th grade and doing well in school, and both she and her husband now have stable jobs. However, an eviction this week would risk all that by making the family homeless. Cathy reports there are no family shelter spaces currently available in Tacoma, meaning they will be separated and have to give up their beloved cats.

State Senator Yasmin Trudeau said:“It’s unacceptable that billionaire investors from San Francisco are evicting a Tacoma educator and an 8th grade student during the school year, when it causes the most disruption for our community. Job losses like Cathy's family experienced can happen to any of us. I call on the owners of Lakeside Landing Apartments to let the Pick family resume their repayment plan and halt this eviction as evictions on a person's record will only keep them and their families out of housing for years to come. Everyone deserves a second chance, and our community deserves the protections found in Initiative #1 to prevent the destabilization and destruction of families.”

Billionaire Investors are Exploiting Our Neighbors

“Cathy’s situation exemplifies why Tacoma needs the Tenant Bill of Rights,” said Ann Dorn, a leader with Tacoma for All. “Outside billionaire investors are gobbling up local properties. They only care about their profits. Their whole strategy is to push working people out of affordable housing, do some cheap renovations, then jack up the rent.”

Lakeside Landing is owned by the San Francisco private equity firm Hamilton Zanze & Co., which owns 22,203 homes in 26 markets across 16 states, with real estate assets totalling $6.8 billion. Co-owner “Mark [Hamilton’s] focus has always been locating value-add properties in changing urban neighborhoods across the US, then reworking them into higher quality buildings with higher incomes, improving tenant profiles and higher resale values,” said Reed Goossens, host of “Investing in the US” podcast, in an interview with Hamilton.

Cathy and Kevin began renting at Lakeside Landing in January 2020 and paid rent on time every month until the doctor’s office Kevin worked for shut down in July last year. They were unable to pay rent until getting back on their feet this spring. They attempted to pay their full back rent in March, but their landlord refused payment and instead served them with an unlawful detainer lawsuit, adding thousands in legal fees to their existing debt. Lakeside Landing property management was legally mandated to enter a repayment plan with Cathy and Kevin in May, but after missing a single payment in August their property manager triggered a writ of eviction.

“If the protections of Initiative 1 were in place already, I wouldn’t be in this position, and neither would our neighbors,” said Pick. “As an educator and parent of a student, I would be protected from school-year evictions under Initiative 1, which would give us enough time to fully catch up on our rent and avoid tearing our son away from his community during the school year. The last thing we want is an eviction on our record.”

“This is happening to many of our neighbors,” said Ann Dorn of Tacoma for All. “The only thing unique about Cathy is that she is willing to speak up. Cathy is a fighter and has advocated for others in similar circumstances, and so now we need to stand with her family.” 

Take Action NOW to Protect the Pick family

Here are other actions you can to take to support Cathy’s family and to fight back against billionaire investors exploiting our community:

• You can support Cathy by donating directly to a GoFundMe campaign that will go towards covering past due rent and fees: https://gofund.me/eea077f7

• Read more and sign a petition to the landlords: www.bit.ly/t4apetition

• Share the link for Cathy's eviction protection rally: www.bit.ly/t4aprotects

• Sign the T4A pledge to vote yes for Initiative 1: www.bit.ly/t4apledge

• Volunteer for T4A: www.bit.ly/t4awins

• Donate to T4A: www.bit.ly/t4adonate