Kathleen Treseder Removed from Irvine’s Affordable Housing Nonprofit Board

by ICNV Staff

The Irvine Community Land Trust (ICLT) is a nonprofit organization that was established in 2006 by the City of Irvine to develop and preserve permanent, low-cost housing for working families and individuals.

Over the past two decades, the Land Trust has provided thousands of Irvine families with high-quality affordable housing units.

On September 21, the ICLT board voted 5-1 to remove Irvine Councilmember Kathleen Treseder from the Land Trust board. (Irvine Councilmember James Mai voted NO.)

The Board stated that Ms. Treseder was removed for cause after she conditioned her support for a new affordable housing project on the removal of a director with whom she did not get along and then stopped attending Land Trust meetings when the Board refused her demand.

Treseder’s insistence on removing the director came after a three-month review process involving legal analysis and competing bids. The Board noted that Ms. Treseder participated in the months-long process and was recorded as the lone dissenting vote in an August 24 decision to move forward with the new affordable housing project. After it became clear that the director would not be removed and that the project would move forward, Treseder stopped attending all Land Trust meetings.

According to the Board, Ms. Treseder declined to attend the meeting regarding her removal, despite being notified in advance.

A day after her removal, Treseder attacked the Land Trust during the September 22 Irvine City Council meeting. In response, the Land Trust issued a statement maintaining that the Board’s actions followed all bylaws and that ICLT remains committed to working with the City of Irvine to provide permanently affordable housing to families in need.

Read the Board’s response to Treseder’s allegations against the nonprofit here.