On a narrow sidewalk in front of the headquarters of MUBI, an online cinema company, a small gathering of people with big drums and trumpets met Thursday to support a local teacher and her daughter who are facing an eviction – for the crime of using their kitchen appliances.
Landlords Mathieu Verbeeck, VP of product development at MUBI, and Catherine Crevels, marketing manager at Intuit, are trying to throw Michelle Malliet out of her Mission District home.
The landlords are using a new strategy that could set a really dangerous precedent: Since Malliet has the right to remain in an in-law unit that was never legalized, the attempt to throw her out for “nuisance” use of gas and electricity could threaten hundreds of other tenants.
Loud music filled the air as the Brass Liberation Orchestra banged their drums, singing lyrics like,” “do you remember the good old days before tech town?” and “when our teachers are under attack, rise up-take the city back!”
As the band grew louder, the crowd continued to grow on this narrow city sidewalk, holding homemade signs and rallying along with major organizing groups such as the San Francisco Tenant’s Union and the United Educators of San Francisco.
The Malliet eviction case is a double whammy, union activists say: Because she is a teacher who works closely with children with learning disabilities, kicking Malliet out of her home will have consequences that cascade into dozens of children’s lives
I spoke with Matthew Hardy, of the United Educators of San Francisco, and he explained to me how the is having serious trouble finding people who do the type of work Malliet does. Hardy says, “If we lose her, it’s a double detriment for our community.”
And with housing prices in San Francisco (and even the East Bay now) so high that teachers can’t afford to live here, an eviction often means the resident is forced out of the region entirely.
Patricia De Harious, a longtime San Francisco resident, was present at the rally holding a sign that read, “Stop Teacher Evictions!”
“My daughter Is a teacher too,” she said. “Teacher evictions are a vivid symbol of how retched and hyper sensitive this whole situation is.” We had a discussion about the community shift in a place like the Mission, talking about examples of couples without children who move into homes that are typically meant to house families. “They don’t have kids now but they eventually will. When they do and there are no teachers around for them, that’ll be karma for what these people are doing.”
Michelle Malliet’s attorney, Joseph Tobener, was at the rally, pacing the sidewalk as he tried to reach Malliet on the phone asking when she would get here. He assured the crowd, “Michelle is on her way, remember she’s a teacher so she’s not off until 4pm.”
Tobener told me that if the landlords win, more evictions could be looming. “This is the third case we’ve seen that’s claiming nuisance as a way to get tenants out of in-laws, nuisance for using appliances in an in-law unit. The third case we’ve seen that the courts are allowing to go forward.
“We think we’ll prevail at the end of the day but I think the problem here is you got a big economy with a disparity between the tech wealth and public servants like this. As you know in law, it’s a war of resources and what happens is these landlords serve these evictions, knowing that they can’t prevail but designed to create a war of resources where the tenants are left holding the bag. Michelle Malliet will most likely win the case but she’s going to spend a lot of money doing it, it’s going to wipe her out.”
Michelle Malliet arrived midway through the protest and was immediately put on the megaphone. “I was born and raised in the city and I want the same for my daughter, that’s what this is really about,” she said.
Malliet told me her support through this whole process comes from her friends and family, as well as her lawyer who keeps her very positive. She told the crowd she’s fighting back against her eviction to be an example for the community, “I don’t want to be a statistic, I don’t want to be another local pushed out by a techie.”
Her trial is set for July 25. You can support Michelle at her Go Fund Me page here.
