Women in Long Beach transitional house face eviction after property owner sues for rent nonpayment

LONG BEACH >> Netta Perrodin left a broken marriage in Louisiana to rebuild her life in Long Beach a few years ago. But a bad economy meant Perrodin lost her job as a property manager and ended up in a transitional living home on Daisy Avenue in Willmore City.

Now Perrodin and other women in the house — many of whom are recovering from addiction, are just out of jail or recently in from the streets — face eviction after they say the director of the home pocketed their rent money and was sued by the property owner for months of nonpayment.

“These women are vulnerable,” said Perrodin, who said she now works as a full-time caregiver. “A lot of the women are coming out of turbulent situations. This is all being triggered for them again, the idea of being put back on the streets.”

Constance Gilkie, director of Transformational Living Homes, was sued by Grace Chang for $23,000 for rent owed between Nov. 1, 2015 and March 31 on a property in the 800 block of Daisy Avenue, according to documents filed in Long Beach Superior Court.

The rental agreement called for $4,600 a month, which Chang, who also is seeking attoey’s fees from Gilkie, said went unpaid for five months, according to court documents.

Several women who live in the house filed a response to the unlawful detainer notice, which is typically served for nonpayment of rent and in this case includes “all occupants” in addition to Gilkie, saying they paid the rent to Gilike, who acted as a liaison to Chang.

Perrodin, who said she pays $500 a month for a single bed, said the women were shocked to get word of an eviction notice in late March. To make matters worse, she said, after the eviction notice was served, Gilkie called meetings with the women, demanded any copies of the notice they might have had, asked for April rent, and said the lawsuit was a misunderstanding and nobody would be evicted.

Perrodin said she believes Gilkie, whom she described as shedding “fake” tears while calling on the women to band together as females and support her, wanted copies of the eviction notice so that the women couldn’t file a court response in time to delay getting kicked out.

“It was unbelievable,” Perrodin said. “It was like she was the victim, when we’re the victims.”

Perrodin and other women have filed court responses to the unlawful detainer notice. They say they paid their rent to Gilkie, mostly in the form of money orders.

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Reached by phone, Gilkie said she’s been ruing transitional housing programs for nine years, and has a lot of success stories. She said the allegations that she owes $23,000 to Chang — and kept the rent money for herself — are untrue. The matter is a misunderstanding between her and Chang, Gilkie said, without elaborating.

“It’s between me and the owner, not the people in the house,” Gilkie said. “Nobody is being kicked out or emptying out the house. It’s just me and Grace right now. I believe everything is going to be OK. There’s problems on the property, but there’s no way in the world I would hurt any of these women. They are fragile.”

Chang could not be reached for comment, and her attoey did not retu voicemails. However, Perrodin said Chang has assured the women that she doesn’t want them homeless.

“We are working with Grace,” Perrodin said.

At-risk population

On the Transformational Living Homes website, Gilkie is listed as CEO and director of marketing. The organization describes itself as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization that “helps to transform lives and provide temporary and permanent housing for targeted segments of the ‘at risk’ population in Long Beach.”

That population, according to the website, includes the homeless, recent parolees and people struggling to find affordable housing.

Transformational Living Homes says on its website that its houses are for adults in early recovery or transitioning from inpatient treatment for addiction. Therapy, treatment and formal counseling are not a part of its operations, but Transformational Living Homes encourages its residents to assume responsibility for their sobriety by attending addiction recovery meetings.

The website shows other houses in its operations, including photos of Walnut Avenue and Norman Court properties, each also owned by Chang, according to an online property database.

The transitional housing group had its tax exempt status revoked by the Inteal Revenue Service in 2012, but an IRS agent this week told the Press-Telegram the organization currently is tax-exempt and may receive tax-deductible charitable contributions. According to a 2013 tax filing with the IRS, Transformational Living Homes reported nearly $338,000 in total revenue.

Transformational Living Homes is listed on the website of The Sober Living Network, a nonprofit organization based out of Santa Monica. According to the network, sober-living homes listed on its website “meet or exceed Sober Living Network requirements for cleanliness, safety, quality of life, training and ethical practices. All listed homes are members of the Los Angeles County Sober Living Coalition.”

Trying not to end up here

One of the women in the house on Daisy Avenue told the Press-Telegram that many are unsure where to go next, if they have to leave.

“A lot them are working programs,” she said.

Gilkie said she has not threatened anyone to get out of the house, although a video obtained by the Press-Telegram appears to show one resident struggling with people to get inside.

“Constance and her goons barricaded the doors to prevent her from entering,” Perrodin said.

Gilkie said she is working on the matter with an attoey.

“It’s going to be OK,” Gilkie said. “It’s a sad situation, but it’s going to be all right.”

Perrodin said she’s tuing her life around and is considering advocating for women who are having similar problems in transitional living homes.

“If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone,” she said. “One of the things about this jouey of homelessness I’ve been on, it’s the stigma that people go through by no fault of their own. I don’t think people realize how hard people try to not end up here.”