Over 100K In Rent Saved & More Good News

Twice a year we tally up the number of dollars residents would have paid, were they in market rate housing.

We recently discovered that since 2019 residents crossed the $100,000 dollar threshold saving a total $105,484.09 dollars.

We think this is significant for a few reasons. Dollars are a common denominator we all have the experience of earning and accruing. Everyone who’s paid rent in this economy understands dollars and cents. We believe sharing this number is a quick way to measure one expression of the value we’ve created together.

Another measure though, are the things residents feel empowered to do with their lives because of the impact of a reduced rent burden.

Resident owners are well positioned to dream bigger and pay the value they’ve received forward to other members of their community.

For example, Crow and Tia Taruc-Myers are a couple living in Coop 789.

With the time liberated from slaving for dollars, Tia has been able to devote significantly more energy to The Alipato Project, an organization she created that is California’s first and only to take action against violent domestic abusers and hold them accountable in court.

Since its inception, The Alipato Project has represented and advised multiple survivors in the mediation and settlements of their civil suits. The Alipato team authored the Domestic Violence Torts chapter in the American Bar Association’s The Impact of Domestic Violence on Your Legal Practice, 3rd Edition and the Closing Argument article in The Trial Lawyer; an instructive guide of trial tactics for written for lawyers. Alipato Project staff collaborate with the Alameda County Bar Association to host a Mandatory Continuing Legal Education course called Domestic Violence Torts 101. Tia’s creation is pushing the legal field forward with Alipato’s education and advocacy.

Tia’s partner, Crow is returning to school to pursue a Masters degree in Fine Art.

“Growing up, I knew that I wanted to be either a professional basketball player or a writer, at some point. But really a writer because I'm not really that good at basketball. So, I've been writing like, off and on through the years, but it was hard starting up a business and maintaining that. So I gave up my membership for the last year, for Alchemy [Collective], so I'm going to be going back to school. Get an MFA,” shared Crow.

“I didn't truly understand the burden of having an uninterested landlord until the burden was lifted when EB PREC helped us form Coop 789! Now, my brain feels like it has so much more room to think about the future. For example, instead of constantly debating whether to choose between living with black mold or moving out of Oakland for a more affordable place, we get to debate about whether to have our own children or to adopt. These are conversations we weren't even able to have before because of our precarious housing situation,” said Tia.

The couple just recently announced they’re expecting their first child in 2022.

There are lots of ways to measure value. We look forward to seeing what else the community creates with their liberated time and dollars.