. Today, when Foley works with tenants who need housing but have past evictions on their record, she often refers them to Berrada, one of the only landlords in the area who will offer them a lease. She packed their belongings and rented a storage space, knowing that when the sheriffs came to kick them out theyd toss all their belongings onto the sidewalk. He was on the school's tennis and volleyball teams and was initiated into the National Honor Society. In fact, the average 1973 hourly minimum wage (just over $4) would be equal to about a $24 average minimum wage today. "I was in the shower and they just walked into my apartment without knocking," Summit said. ABBREVIATIONS; ANAGRAMS; BIOGRAPHIES; CALCULATORS; CONVERSIONS; DEFINITIONS; GRAMMAR; LITERATURE; LYRICS . Berrada, who moved to Milwaukee at age 16 as a foreign exchange student at South Milwaukee High School, owns close to 8,000 properties in Milwaukee, Racine, St. Francis and West Allis. In 2015, Stephen Toliver was pleased to land an apartment in a newly purchasedBerradaproperty on West Silver Spring Drive. In court, Toliverargued he never got the notice to pay his rent or face eviction because several mailboxes in the building, including his,had been vandalized and were unusable. That made him responsible for over half of the city's evictions. What is the Birth day of Michael Youssef? Hes gonna evict, I dont have any doubt that hes gonna evict, because thats what he does, said Bucker. Records show Berradaor companies linked to him paid more than $17 million to buy homes and a luxury condoinMaui;Boca Roton, Fla.;Scottsdale,Ariz.;Chicago;San Diego and near Las Vegas. All told the complaint suggests that Berrada and his company prey on the poor, turning the desperation of Milwaukees poor and struggling renters into cash. During a brief discussion a couple of years ago, Bauman said, Berrada told him his family was involved in"buying, rehabbing and reselling heavy construction equipment" in Morocco and that he had some business interests in Europe. It was the start of an unlikely alliance to solve Milwaukees eviction crisis. "It puts people in harm's way," said Preston Cole, commissioner of the city Department of Neighborhood Services. The $1.6 million mansionis one of eightluxury homes across the country owned or linked to him. That made him responsible for over half of the citys evictions. This is the very, very last resort, Berrada said. While many Berrada tenants have been relieved by the shift in tone, theyre wary of what happens when the CDC moratorium is lifted and their plight falls off the news cycle. Young said that during the rehab work, the front door of her apartment was barricaded for a day, trapping her inside. do plants convert energy into matter; frank anselem high school; organic grass-fed milk near me; I was pregnant and about to have a baby; I wouldnt be able to go anywhere with a newborn, said Pollard. He was born on June 9, 1978, in Rabat, Morocco. celine dion net worth 2022; french brandy codycross; vassar men's volleyball; edith pretty rheumatic fever; britney spears basketball; presonus native instruments; are students considered residents for tax purposes; youssef joe'' berrada house. Berradatold the aldermenthere wereonly about 30 vacancies in the 8,000 rental units nationwide his operation owned. ", "I started getting depressed," said Young, who was unemployed and on rent assistance. Berrada tenants that arent asked to leave for renovations, often suffer in other ways. 111 PDF. 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That speaks to a real imbalance of power that is reified and reinforced by the court systems that grant levels of anonymity to landowners and landlords.. . Youssef Kerkour. The company has since paid her the $3,400. And when evicting Berrada always gets his money. "I just sat on the stairs and cried," Young said. Berrada says his organization owns 8,000 rental units nationwide. Mequon home of Youssef Berrada, 27 de julho de 2022 Help us share the knowledge by buying a gift subscription. 2023 Milwaukee Public Media is a service of UW-Milwaukee's College of Letters & Science, PublishedDecember 17, 2021 at 9:46 AM CST. Joe Cole is a handsome and well-mannered 35-year-old English actor who was born on November 28, 1988. Some of Berrada's tactics are raising red flags with advocacy groups and attorneys who work with low-income renters. 1 . Adrian said the company did not initially treat it as a nuisance settlement. Madison, WI 53707-7857 Phone: (608) 266-1221. Youssef Kerkour is 43 years old (in 2021). "They can move you out of your home.". I was very surprised. The state alleges that Berrada is personally involved in the day-to-day operations and minutiae of his massive real estate holdings and has personally located and secured the financing for the thousands of properties he has acquired, and personally signs eviction complaints, handles tenant complaints and oversees renovation projects. My granddaughter's ashes.". But the company often notifies renters that their deposit has been withheld for failing to give Berrada a proper 30-day notice before leaving the apartment. At least $250,000 must be "new funds" which means not on deposit at DMB Community Bank within the last 30 days. Ditch the ads, get free stuff. Joseph. The $50 late fees and the attending court fees billed for eviction filings amounted to a combined $2,422 in fees charged to the tenant. Berrada declined to speak to Insider for this story but, through his lawyer, he said Berrada Property Managements hiatus doesnt necessarily reflect a change of heart. "It's a terrible abuse. Spivak says Berrada was one of the leading evictors in the city. Becoming the face of a citys eviction crisis, after all, makes the price of doing business a lot steeper. Need to report an error? In 2018, according to the complaint, another tenant, who has paraplegia and uses a wheelchair, found the carpeting in the hallway outside his apartment ripped up, leaving a strip of tacks at his threshold. The civil complaints allegations paint a picture of a landlord and his rental company who use a web of fees and illegal practices to extract money out of tenants on top of their rent; torment renters with dangerous, sometimes needless renovations; profit from the evictions process; and when its expedient, even if the rent is paid in full, simply push tenants out of their homes. But as time went on and things broke, service was slow or sloppy, the man said. "A lot of landlords will deny housing to anyone who has been sued for eviction, regardless of the outcome of the case," said Eric Dunn, litigation director for the National Housing Law Project. Next week, the Center for Disease Controls eviction moratorium, which has stemmed evictions but not stopped them, is set to expire again. . These court fees related to eviction, based upon the criminal complaint, are just one layer in a stew of penalties that keep a tenant indebted to Berrada, who then extracts even more money from the tenant on top of the monthly rent. The DOJs complaint alleges the landlord has violated the law with illegal provisions in his rental agreements that require tenants to pay attorney and court fees for an eviction Berrada has filed against them. SeanHargadon, a U.S. Photo by Graham Kilmer. In April 2020, the company notified all the tenants at one apartment building they would be replacing every front door in the building despite the fact the existing doors were still functional, according to the complaint. Last updated on November 18th, 2021 at 02:42 pmWisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul today announced the filing of a civil law enforcement action against Youssef (Joe) Berrada and his property . 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Several months after Toliver moved out, a different tenantcomplained to the city about the building's condition. LIVE Id be homeless if it werent for Berrada, said 29-year old Tevin Buckner who Community Advocates helped with months of back rent owed to BPM through the new cooperative systems after he lost his job at the beginning of the pandemic. It wasnt always so hard to keep the roof over your head in America-in part because corporations didnt used to own so many peoples homes. Berrada uses late fees, sometimes illegally imposed on new tenants, according to the DOJ, in a manner interwoven with the companys hair trigger evictions and its withholding of security deposits. Wisconsin once had a 'model' voting rights program for people with disabilities. Berradaoperations generally make repairs that are ordered by the city in a timely manner. Goldberger said his client is "a particularly private person and wishes to operate his business without unwelcome publicity.". Email this Business. The late fees, which for some tenants, like JT, are nearly endless, contribute to the debts that Berrada then uses as a cause for eviction. He is married. He also allegedly filed around 850 evictions in a matter of two weeks earlier this month. Youssef has 1 job listed on their profile. The agency even placed a staffer in a Berrada Properties office to help tenants apply for rent assistance that is paid to the landlord.