My own personal war

The War on Terrorism begins at home

My Name is David Brown. I've lived in the Oaks Hotel since 1999. I'm 41 yrs old, single. When I first moved into the Oaks Hotel back in 1999, rent was only $312.00 for a single room, there was no government subsidies, and I was about 37 years old, never had any run-in's with the Law, was reasonably healthy and employed. When the Oakland Housing Authority took over , through the Federal government, I thought I’d stay on at the Oaks Hotel to take advantage of the government subsidized rents based on my income.
The Oaks Hotel was a 80+ room residential hotel, with community bathroom and kitchens. A good deal in this housing market if your single, except ( what I found out later) the management caters to the needs of the local community ( jobless,homeless, drug dealers sex workers and predators); to people in desperate need of housing, people who are "down and out". But the management here has proven to me that it doesn’t really care about the welfare of average working tenants, people trying to get ahead and trying to earn a living. Like the people working for this organization. To them the tenants here represent a market to be exploited, aided by big Government subsidies, most of the tenants couldn’t no longer afford to stay here without the gov’t subsidies, because the rents are so inflated,now.
My Life has changed since I've been here at this Hotel. Now since I’ve been at this hotel, I've been diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. I've had one brief stint in jail, threatened with having by belonging confiscated by the many visits by law enforcement on my behalf and the behalf of others, whatever kind of reputation I've had, maligned. Partly due to a problem I’ve been having with another tenant. I've received no legal help through outside sources. None of the Legal agencies and lawyers has taken an interest in whatever case I've got, nor do they return my phone calls.
I fear for my life and well-being staying in this hotel because; I am being harassed by another tenant , an older gentleman who lives on the floor directly above me and acts like some sort of sexual predator regarding me. here. He doesn’t harass me directly ,just through fear and intimidation disturbs my peace , there are many other serious problems here at the Hotel. MORE disturbing is the neglect of the management of this Hotel, and associated agencies, AND the surrounding community regarding my problem here. The attitude is that people just don’t care. This general apathy is an attitude that pervades this society.
This situation has also impacted my employment . I've complained to the local management of this Hotel, the Organization that manages this hotel ' Oakland Community Housing Management", my representative at the Oakland housing Authority, and no one has done anything to alleviate this situation, despite vociferous complaints. The situation is getting out of control.
One solution would be to move out of the Hotel. But the whole point of staying in this Hotel was because I cannot afford rent at the current market levels, I was entertaining the prospect of leaving California, as the "Rate increases and Rolling Blackouts" in the Summer of 1990 discouraged me from ever putting faith in our elected officials managing our natural resources, in California. So this is the place I stay right now, while I still am employed. I lack the resources to move at present time.
My solution to the problem... There are 80+ rooms in this Hotel, any kind of friction between this man and I could have been alleviated by moving one of us. I've suggested this to the local management of this hotel, the property management of the Hotel, and to the Housing Authority, and it seems all my complaints fall on deaf ears, no one can do anything. Yet it’s just a simple solution. Yet ,I fear The Oaks Hotel, Oakland Community Housing Management, don’t want to do anything, to cater to the real needs of the tenants, like having SAFE housing. This represents a possibly large outlay of money, in addition to the money there already making…making right the living conditions in this Hotel for the tenants and tenants like myself.