The Chandler building fire in Southside Berkeley has left 30 residents without homes. Photo: Ted Friedman
When a fire tore through 2449 Dwight Way the Sunday before Thanksgiving, about 30 tenants were displaced
and the property owner was saddled with around $1 million in damages. The Nov. 22 disaster has brought to
light what can happen in Berkeley in the aftermath of a destructive fire.
The displaced tenants describe two weeks dominated by confusion and uncertainty. After fleeing the building,
which is known as the Chandler, the residents scattered, finding refuge in friends’ homes and at the Durant
Hotel. The Red Cross provided some financial assistance.
”Things were happening in a whirlwind,” said tenant Owen Hill. “Many of us went to a hotel because we
expected it to be covered. We didn’t get solid information because we were in a panic.”
With the city staff member who handles relocation after disasters out with an injury, there was nobody who
could tell the tenants exactly what to expect. They say they received conflicting information from the Rent
Page 1 of 6 Board about what kind of assistance they were entitled to immediately and in the long run, causing uncertainty
about what kind of housing to seek. (A crowd-funding campaign set up to help the displaced has so far raised
just $65.)
The fire at the Chandler building on Dwight Way and Telegraph Avenue on Sunday, Nov. 22 highlights the difficulties
faced by displaced tenants. Photo: Natalie Orenstein
“I think they were trying to make an honest attempt to put the threads together,” Hill said. “But between the city
and the Rent Board, we were kind of left hanging. Meanwhile we’re going back to this $150 a night hotel, not
quite knowing where we stand.”
At issue was Berkeley’s Relocation Ordinance, written in 2011 and designed to support tenants who are
temporarily forced out of their rental units. It applies most often to planned renovations that displace tenants —
as well as to relocation due to fire or code enforcement, except in the case of an earthquake or other natural
disaster. Under the ordinance, tenants are entitled to “relocation payments from the property owner to mitigate
the costs associated with a temporary move,” until they can move back into the unit.
Initially unsure of the interpretation of the ordinance in the case of the fire at the Chandler building, the Rent
Board conferred with the city and eventually determined that the tenants are entitled to a per diem payment —
$120 or more depending on the size of the household — minus their December rent cost, for up to 29 days after
the fire. Once they find permanent housing, they are entitled to a rent differential up to a determined rent
ceiling. The current rent ceiling, which is based on the average price of rent-controlled units from the previous
Page 2 of 6 year is $1,218.80 for a studio and $1,627.17 for a one-bedroom. (The Chandler has almost exclusively onebedroom units.) Tenants are also entitled to coverage of moving expenses and storage costs.
The tenants said they have had trouble finding apartments that cost anywhere close to the city’s rent ceiling.
“Part of the reason why it’s so low is [the average is based on] rent controlled units, but a good chunk of what’s
available is new construction,” said Jay Kelekian, director of the Rent Board. “The other reason is rents have
gone up at least 20% in 2015.” New data released in January will boost the rent ceiling, he said.
Firefighters climbed onto the roof to fight the two-alarm fire at the Chandler building. Photo: David Yee
The relocation benefits are coming out of pocket from the Chandler owner, Greg Hoff, who bought the building
in 2002 from Barbara Moscowitz, the co-founder of Moe’s Books up the block on Telegraph.
“It turns out that this ordinance is so unique that we do not have insurance coverage,” said Hoff, who had been
unaware that the ordinance would apply in a case like this, where he was not responsible for damage to his
property. He estimates he will have to pay between $100,000-$250,000 depending on the tenants’ new rents, the
rent ceiling hike in January, and storage costs.
Hoff said the relocation payments feel like a “bad luck tax,” but he is prepared to comply.
“We want to stay in business in Berkeley so we’re going to do it,” Hoff said. He declined to say how many
properties his Oakland-based Evans Property Company owns, but said, “We operate hundreds of units in
Berkeley.”
If a landlord fails to make the relocation payments, the ordinance says the city can take over the payments and
put a lien on the property. Kelekian said that has never happened.
Page 3 of 6 Even with the relocation assistance, many tenants, who have spent the past two weeks dashing to open houses
and combing through Craigslist, worry they won’t be able to afford what they find.
“The ceiling is unrealistic, and there’s no disaster clause for people who are being thrown onto a rent market
that is insane,” Hill said.
“Once you start looking, you realize you’re priced completely out of Berkeley, priced out of Oakland, priced
out of Emeryville,” said tenant Kayce Davis.
Residents of the Chandler building may not be able to move back in for over a year. Photo: Natalie Orenstein
If the fire had happened in a different city, however, it is likely the tenants wouldn’t get any financial assistance.
In San Francisco, for example, tenants have the right to return to their units after repairs are done, but the
landlord has no responsibility to help them relocate in the interim, said Tommi Avicolli Mecca of the San
Francisco Housing Rights Committee.
“We haven’t done any analysis on the differences or similarities between our ordinance and that of other cities,”
said Berkeley spokesman Matthai Chakko in an email.
Displaced tenants have received relocation payments after other fires in Berkeley, but it took time to interpret
the ordinance after the Chandler incident because fires are handled on a case by case basis, Kelekian said. When
a fire is so destructive that a building has to be demolished—as was the case four years ago at the neighboring
Sequoia building at 2441 Haste St.—residents are not entitled to relocation benefits.
Page 4 of 6 “One of the things we’ve found in these fires is the ordinance can certainly be clarified,” he said.
Building damaged in fire was a “bohemian enclave”
For some tenants of 2449 Dwight, “relocation” means living somewhere other than the Chandler for the first
time in twenty years. The property was built in the 1920s and has since housed many artists and writers. Tenant
Liz Leger, artist and professor at California College of the Arts, calls the building “a bohemian enclave.”
“I think it’s safe to say that people who live in the Chandler don’t have loads of money,” she said.
Three of the current tenants, including Hill, work at Moe’s Books, and two at Amoeba Records. Hill’s 2002
mystery novel, The Chandler Apartments, was written in the titular building.
“So many people in the building, their lives have been on Telegraph,” Davis said.
The fire has strengthened the Chandler community, as tenants try to support one another. In the days following
the disaster, they exchanged a flurry of emails, at first simply sharing advice for washing clothing after a fire.
Some tenants took the lead on contacting the city.
“We’re learning who has what expertise,” said tenant John Howard.
Some tenants have missed days of work in order to apartment-hunt. Others have taken advantage of friends’
generosity. Davis has moved four times —a long with his infant, Leo. After spending a year accumulating
“baby stuff,” he watched it all get destroyed in one evening. Generous friends have donated clothing and toys,
but there is nowhere to store it.
“Everything is in giant limbo,” Davis said. But the friendship he has built with the other tenants in the aftermath
of the fire has been the silver lining. “I want Leo to grow up around these people,” he said.
Residents of the Chandler building packed up Monday after the fire. Photo: Ted Friedman
Page 5 of 6 Repairs could take more than a year
The fire at the Chandler was one of two in Berkeley that night. Twelve minutes after the 2449 Dwight fire was
called in, the Berkeley Fire Department responded to a fire at 811 Carleton St. at a complex of workspaces.
Later that week, there was an oven fire in a residential building and two separate fires at the Mandarin Garden
restaurant at 2025 Shattuck Ave.
The department currently has only one investigator and he has been busy, said interim Fire Chief Avery Webb.
The department has not determined the exact cause of the fire in the Chandler building, but it appears to have
been accidental. It started in an apartment on the fourth floor and spread to the attic.
One person had to be carried out of the burning building and treated at a hospital, but was released later Sunday
evening. Two cats died in the fire.
The storefront level of the Chandler building along Telegraph houses Bleecker Bistro, Gifts of Tara, Reprint
Mint, and the Lhasa Karnak Herb Company, all of which have reopened.
Tenants may not be able to move back in for over a year, Hoff said. He said there have been obstacles to getting
tenants access to clear out their belongings and to moving forward with repairs. He said it is unclear how long it
will take to bring the building up to code and how involved the city will be with oversight.
“We’re trying our best to get the tenants in there,” he said. “Ultimately we’re both going to get new electricity.
The building will be modern, it will have fire sprinklers. At our expense we’re probably going to update the
heating and plumbing.”
From now on, Hoff said, he will strongly encourage his tenants to buy renters insurance.
A fundraising campaign to help the displaced Chandler Way tenants can be found on You Caring.
The footage below shot from above the Chandler building shows some of the damage caused by the fire and the
firefighters who contained it:
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