Gallery: 70-year-old disabled woman lives in the mountains of Lytle Creek
Though the voyage is not yet over, Sharon Green and her legal team are declaring a big victory.
The California Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to review the Glendora woman's case against Anchor Pacifica Management Company and denied the city of Glendora's request to depublish the case. That should put the parties back on track to get Green into permanent housing, said Jolene Larimore, one of Green's attorneys.
Green has been homeless since being evicted from her affordable housing unit in Heritage Oaks Senior Apartments in 2010. A battle with Anchor Pacifica traveled all the way up to a California appeals court, which ruled that the 70-year-old had been illegally evicted from her unit.
The ruling from the Second District Court of Appeals declared that tenants in affordable housing units subsidized by redevelopment agencies are entitled to due process protections similar to the federal housing program rights.
Since the state disbanded redevelopment agencies last year, the appeals court chose to publish the case, setting it up as a precedent for all future cases.
As Green began making plans to move from her camping tent in Lytle Creek to an apartment with a
solid roof, the city of Glendora, as a successor agency to its disbanded redevelopment agency, filed a request to depublish the case with the California Supreme Court.Depublishing the case would not have changed the outcome unless the justices had elected to review the case, which could have taken two more years, attorney Larimore said.
With the denial of the depublication request, the city of Glendora is now waiting for the judgment from the Superior Court, said Glendora City Attorney D. Wayne Leech.
Larimore submitted a proposed judgment ordering Anchor Pacifica to reinstate Green to her tenancy as it was the day before her eviction, at the affordable housing rate of $213 a month.
Though the proposed judgment orders the city of Glendora to pay the subsidy as the redevelopment agency's successor, the judge could simply decree that the issue of rent must be decided between the landlord and tenant, Larimore said.
"Our next move depends on whether the city believes there is any legal obligation to provide subsidies to Sharon Green," said Leech. "The city has never provided a subsidy to Sharon Green. We've never had an agreement with Sharon Green for providing her any housing."
Until the judgment is decreed, Green waits in a motel in Glendora, paid for by Anchor Pacifica on a weekly basis, said Green's other attorney, Andrew Radel. Aside from the temporary accommodations, there has been limited contact between the two parties.
"We really haven't had any discussions," Radel said. "The only thing we know is the judge is ready to sign the judgment and he believes, as we do, they're (Anchor Pacifica) going to have to move her back in."
Anchor Pacifica did not return calls for comment.
melissa.masatani@sgvn.com
626-962-8811, ext. 2472
