Caltech Should Invest in On-Campus Housing, Say Evicted Tenants

Caltech should be investing its “immense” funds in building on-campus housing instead acquiring local apartment buildings for student housing and displacing community members, a Caltech student said Wednesday at a press conference protesting the eviction of 21 tenants by Caltech at a Pasadena apartment complex.

The Institute bought the complex at 400 South Mentor Avenue on May 31 for $7.5 million.

“Caltech purchased the property … to convert it into Caltech residential student housing. We have more graduate students on campus who have requested to live in Caltech housing than we currently have units available to support,” Caltech Chief Communications Officer Shayna Chabner told Pasadena Now. 

Ashay Patel, a Caltech grad student, compared the evictions to the struggles of Caltech grad students who teach at the university, saying, “Caltech has chosen to displace community members via intimidating eviction notices. There are parallels between how Caltech treats its own grad student workers and how it’s treating the tenants of 400 South Mentor.”

At the conference, tenants said that Caltech informed them that their current tenancies would be terminated by noon on September 30, 2023, in a letter sent June 8, about one week after the building was bought.

The tenants said the notice instructed them to “deliver up the possession of the premises to the apartment manager,” and added, “If you fail to quit …The California Institute of Technology will institute legal proceedings for unlawful detainer against you to recover possession of the premises.”

The tenants in the complex have organized to form the Phoenix 400 Tenants Association, with the support of the Pasadena Tenants Union, the grassroots organization behind the city’s Measure H rent control initiative passed by voters last November.

Patel also said that a group of Caltech graduate students has circulated a petition in collaboration with Phoenix 400, “demanding that Caltech gives tenants a choice to move out or to remain in their homes.” 

The petition also demanded that “Caltech make a public commitment to keeping them, keeping those who wish to stay in their homes until they leave voluntarily, and to issue an apology to all the tenants for these stressful notices that they were given.”

Patel said the petition, signed by 166 Caltech grad and post grad students and community members,  was delivered Wednesday to the office of the President, provost and the Caltech Housing Office.

On Wednesday, the tenants said they received a letter from Ken Hargreaves, external relations officer with Caltech, which said, “I would welcome the opportunity to meet and discuss your personal situation and circumstances, and to hear your questions and concerns. I know that many tenants at 400 S. Mentor have lived in the complex for years and may not have expected the recent change in ownership.”

“The intent of the recent communication from the Caltech student housing office was to provide you with a clear picture of our intentions,” Hargreaves’s letter reportedly said, “and to provide you with time to plan, and information on the financial resources and support that will be extended as you move forward.”

The letter is said to have added, “Caltech is fully committed to being a good neighbor. We would like to ensure that we can make this a smooth transition for all involved, and are prepared to be as flexible and understanding in the process as we can.”

The evictions could be among the first cases to go before the Pasadena Rental Housing Board, created by the City after the passage of Measure H.

Rental Housing Board Chair Ryan Bell told Pasadena Now that “the Rental Board still has to create regulations around relocation expenses, and we haven’t done that yet. [But] the tenant protection ordinance, which is still in effect in Pasadena, would govern any relocation that they are entitled to.”

While each of the tenants’ cases would be dealt with individually, Bell noted that the Rental Board intends to create rules in the next month or two.

“Once we create these rules,” Bell said, “every eviction notice needs to be filed with the Rent Board in order for it to be a valid eviction notice.“

Shayna Chabner, Caltech’s chief communications officer, told Pasadena Now Sunday, “We are prepared to be as flexible and understanding as is reasonably possible in the conversion process. At the end of the day, the building is intended for graduate student housing and not commercial housing.”

“Upon taking ownership of the building,” she said, “we notified the tenants of the changing ownership and our intent to take the building off the market and transition it to student housing.”

Measure H was approved by voters in the November 8 General Election results, and the City Council adopted the resolution certifying the results on December 12. The Charter Amendment took effect on December 22. It requires landlords who decide to remove units from the rental market to provide tenants with a minimum of a 60-day eviction notice.

The amendment also mandates that such landlords provide relocation assistance.

Chabner said Caltech has already “shared information on the financial support that Caltech will provide, including moving allowance and relocation assistance, and a no-inspection return of their security deposits.”