DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- In honor of International Migrants Day, local organizations and hundreds of people rallied in downtown Los Angeles in an act of solidarity with immigrants, who fear President-elect Donald Trump's promised plans for mass deportation.

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights led attendees for a 1.5-mile march, rallying at Placita Olvera, 125 Paseo de la Plaza. Participants headed toward the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Center, located at E. Aliso St. and N. Alameda St., culminating with a program.

The National Day Laborer Organizing Network will gather participants at L.A. City Hall at 4 p.m., followed by a march toward the ICE detention center at 5 p.m. Mexican and Latin American bands, Los Jornaleros del Norte, Los Cadetes de Linares and La Sonora Dinamita, will perform, starting at 6 p.m.

Labor, faith and social justice organizations such as SEIU 721, SEIU USWW, SEIU 2015, UTLA, CARCEN, Korean Resource Center, ACCE, Community Coalition, and many others joined CHIRLA for the march.

Pastor Stephen "Cue" Jn-Marie of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, and Suyapa Maldonado of ACCE served as master of ceremonies.

The Los Angeles City Council approved 11 guidelines this week developed by Measure ULA, a 2022 ballot initiative known as the “mansion tax.” 

The measure took effect in April 2023 and has subsidized housing development, helped seniors stay in their homes and funded attorney services for renters facing eviction. It has also helped keep affordable housing from reverting to market rate. 

Maria Gonzalez, a resident of South Los Angeles and member of T.R.U.S.T. South LA, has already benefitted from Measure ULA. She said a few months ago, she and her family were about to lose their apartment, but with the rental assistance program provided in the first round of ULA programs, she was able to save her home. 

“That gave my family and me the ability to stay put and no longer fear the possibility of being evicted or unhoused,” said Gonzalez. “I’m so grateful, not only for us but for the thousands more who will stay housed because of these funds and protections.”

Maria Briones, another tenant from Los Angeles, said ULA’s protections have saved seniors from becoming homeless while creating better options for renters.

Joshua Lopez is putting up his Christmas lights early this year. But he doesn’t feel like celebrating.

Lopez lives with his mother, Rosa Perez, at a small apartment in Imperial Beach. His two-year-old nephew, who Perez watches on weekdays, was sad when Halloween ended. So, even though it was still mid-November, Lopez and Perez decorated their tiny kitchen with lights and tinsel in hopes of cheering him up.

At the same time though, Lopez, an elementary school special ed technician in Chula Vista, is rushing to figure out whether this will be his family's last Christmas in that apartment, where they have lived for 11 years.

Evette Gilard’s skin itched so badly that it woke her one night in early 2019. When she searched her apartment, she discovered a thick rind of black mold in the threshold of her bedroom closet, and another in her hallway. There had been an apartment fire upstairs months earlier, and Gilard supposed that water damage from the firefighters had caused the mold. She knew that her little subsidized one-bedroom in Antioch, California, was not exactly a luxury condo, but now she feared for her health.

The next morning, Gilard told the property manager, who sent a maintenance man with a bleach-filled spray bottle. Knowing that bleach can spread mold on porous surfaces, she turned him away and appealed to the manager to give the problem more serious attention. Meanwhile, she was still living in the apartment, and her symptoms were getting worse. “My skin was changing, my voice was changing,” Gilard told me. “My hair was falling out.”

Decenas de miembros de la Coalición Keep LA Housed, un grupo de defensores de los derechos de los inquilinos, abogados y organizaciones comunitarias se manifestaron para pedir cambios en los permisos de aumento de alquiler que se rigen bajo la Ordenanza de Estabilización de Renta de Los Ángeles (RSO).  

La RSO, respaldada por casi la totalidad de los miembros del Consejo de la ciudad no ha sido sometida a votación porque autoridades del Departamento de Vivienda de Los Ángeles (LAHDA) no les ha presentado el reporte independiente que fue comisionado a Economic Roundtable, dado a conocer desde el 24 de septiembre.  

La fórmula propuesta por todos los miembros de Keep LA Housed es muy simple: quieren un piso de aumento al alquiler cada año desde un 0% y un máximo del 3% anual.  

“Durante 23 de los últimos 40 años, los dueños de vivienda han podido subir la renta a más de 3%, y eso no es justo”, declaroo Sergio Vargas, activista de la Alianza para las Comunidades de California (ACCE). 

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- City of San Diego leaders and housing advocates are fighting back against AI technology that allegedly targets renters.

On Wednesday morning, City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera and a coalition of housing advocates went before the council’s Rules Committee to take the first step in preventing this technology from being used by San Diego landlords.

OPINION by Pinky Toney– Housing and homelessness are top of mind across California. Too many of us have trouble covering our housing costs and we worry about how many people are living in tents and RVs.

The fix may be complex, but it’s also quite simple: housing is the solution to homelessness. This year housing is on the ballot in California and voters have a chance to be part of this solution by voting yes on Proposition 5.

It’s not just a ballot measure for me – it’s personal. I know what it’s like to be unhoused.

Pinky Toney is a member of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), a mother of two, and a long-time resident of Sacramento.

Reyna Aguilar was working as a chef in a restaurant in San Francisco’s Mission neighbourhood when the COVID pandemic struck. The restaurant shut within months, leaving Aguilar worrying about how she would make rent on the studio apartment she had lived in for nearly a decade.

When the government announced it would give rent vouchers, Aguilar, who wears her hair in a loose knot, felt relieved. But her landlord asked for cash instead.

SACRAMENTO, CA – Six people, including unhoused and “struggling renters,” were arrested here late Thursday at State Legislative offices after a Capitol rally urged public officials, lawmakers and the governor to work toward affordable housing instead of homeless encampment sweeps.

The rally began at the West Side of the Capitol and then continued to the State Legislative offices. 

The California Highway Patrol said people were arrested for misdemeanors, including unlawful assembly, refusing to obey an order and being on state property after hours. Status of those arrested is not known at this time, but those arrested at the Capitol are normally booked in Sacramento County Jail and released within a few hours with a scheduled court date.

Those rallying and arrested, according to a statement issued by a large coalition of supporting groups, demanded “Governor Newsom fund affordable housing at scale, fulfill his promise of building one million affordable homes by 2030, and stop the encampment sweeps that merely move people from one corner to another while causing trauma and harm."

During a massive rally set for Saturday in downtown Los Angeles, thousands from community groups and labor unions will march to demand actions regarding rising rents by advocating for affordable housing, rent control and wage increases for blue-collar workers.

One of the more concrete ideas emanating from the 120 different organizations participating is for the City of Los Angeles to buy up and turn into affordable housing the vacant, half-finished Oceanwide Plaza towers, given the moniker “Graffiti Towers” after the buildings were marred by taggers in February.

The luxury apartment complex was left unfinished in 2019 after a Chinese investor went bankrupt.

Officers arrested six people participating in a peaceful sit-in demonstration on housing and homelessness Thursday inside the lobby of a California legislative office building in downtown Sacramento.

The demonstration was held inside the lobby of the Capitol Swing Space building on O Street. Offices for state lawmakers and the governor are located in the building.

Members of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment and Camp Resolution in Sacramento participated in Thursday’s demonstration. The protesters demanded that Newsom fund affordable housing at scale, fulfill his promise of building one million affordable homes by 2030 and stop the homeless encampment sweeps “that merely move people from corner to another while causing trauma and harm,” according to a news release from the two groups.

California limits rent increases to 10% a year for tenants living in apartments built before 1995.

But a law known as Costa-Hawkins prevents cities and counties from passing further rent control, like for newer buildings, single-family homes or new tenants.

The Justice for Renters Act, Proposition 33, would repeal that law, allowing cities and counties to create local rent control laws for any housing.

Jose Lopez, who leads the San Diego Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, said passing rent control “matters a whole lot.”

“Especially for the thousands of Californians who are really one rent increase away from having to move out of their homes,” he said.

In a bustling hallway on the sixth floor of a downtown courthouse, Alcira Ayala sat on a bench with her husband and daughter, anxiously waiting for her eviction case to be called. She held a black cloth bag filled with neatly organized records that she hoped would help her win her case and stay in the apartment that she and her family have lived in for nearly two decades.

Since learning this summer that her landlord wanted to evict them, Ayala had spent days calling and showing up at the offices of local nonprofit groups to ask for help.

She had hoped to get a free lawyer, but quickly learned that there aren’t enough in the city to represent everyone who needs help. To try to defend herself, she went to the L.A. Law Library to ask for guidance filing the legally required response to the notice. Then, she attended hours of online training hosted by the nonprofit Eviction Defense Network, which teaches tenants without lawyers how to prepare for court.

Dozens of people gathered at the Antioch-Pittsburg Amtrak station Saturday to protest its planned closure.

"The train is a big deal for me and my family. We like to take the train just to go up to Sacramento, sometimes to Fresno," said Antioch resident Monique McCoy, who read a poem at the rally on Saturday. "The message is just, put yourself in our shoes. If you couldn't get to work and take the train to work, maybe to Sacramento or the surrounding area, how would that affect you and your family?"

Many people at the rally Sunday live in Antioch, but some attendees took the train to Antioch from Richmond and Oakland to attend. After the rally, they all joined in on a walking tour of nearby destinations around Antioch. Residents toured the El Campanil Theater and the Royal Banquet and Event Hall.

Attendees told NBC Bay Area they use the train to go to work, to get to doctor appointments, and even to see their family members.

"The train has been very, very strategically important, especially since I've had an injury, and I can't sit too long in the car, so on the train, you can get up, walk around, get something to eat," said Contra Costa County resident Eddie Gums who often rides the train to attend public meetings.

ANTIOCH, California — Excessive evictions will soon be a thing of the past in Antioch with the passage of stronger tenant protections aimed to not be overly burdensome on landlords.

The Antioch City Council passed the just cause ordinance in a 5-0 vote on Tuesday. It is expected to be officially ratified in September and the new rules would go into effect 30 days later.

The ordinance outlines protections for tenants evicted due to substantial repair or renovation works. This means that tenants who have been evicted in order for their landlord to repair or renovate a unit can return to the unit at a rate similar to what they paid prior to their eviction . . .

Several residents who spoke before the council Tuesday had hoped the council would widen the protections and prevent families from being evicted when school is in session. Middle-schooler Jadon Pierre King said children should never experience homelessness and asked the council to prohibit the evictions during the school year.

“I have been homeless before, and I was scared,” he said. “If we are worried about leaving our home, then we can’t focus on school. If we are homeless, we won’t have a safe place to sleep, eat, relax or do our homework. If we get evicted, we lose our support system and friends.”

LOS ANGELES, California - A coalition of housing and tenants rights advocates held a rally and bus tour to call attention to rising rent in the San Fernando Valley and beyond, and the need for a new rent cap for rent stabilized buildings across the city of Los Angeles.

The Keep LA Housed-FIX LA Reality Rally and Bus Tour on Aug. 22 began outside Van Nuys City Hall. The bus tour made stops outside apartment buildings in North Hills and Canoga Park, where rents are slated to be raised and some tenants are facing the possibility of ending up homeless because they won’t be able to pay the higher rates.

Jenny Colon, who has lived in the same North Hills apartment for nearly three decades, said her current rent will likely be doubled in the near future. If that happens, she would be forced to move out and try to find a new apartment she can afford, which she described as increasingly rare.

“He’s yelled at me [and] has had me followed. … He also left me without access to a working toilet for several days [and] when my apartment got flooded, he neglected that as well,” Colon told the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol. “There’s a lot of people that have dealt with [similar harassment] and have already been unjustly thrown out onto the streets, and we’re talking about very, very vulnerable communities.” 

Over the last year, tenants have brought lawsuits against a group of real estate developers and property management firms — including several in the Bay Area — alleging that they colluded to push up rents by sharing information using a pricing software made by Texas-based company RealPage.

Now, the Department of Justice is getting involved. On Friday, the Biden administration, alongside the attorneys general of California and seven other states, filed an antitrust lawsuit against RealPage, accusing the company of reducing competition among landlords and taking over the market for such algorithm-based rental software. It’s one of the first major antitrust suits to take aim at a company in the rental housing industry.

“Americans should not have to pay more in rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A coalition of housing advocacy groups on Thursday held a rally and bus tour to speak out against rising rents in the San Fernando Valley and citywide.

"No one wants to live in the street. No one wants to live in the thin line between 'I might have a home today and I don't have a home tomorrow,'" Jenny Colon, a member of the nonprofit Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, said at the rally in Van Nuys. She said her rent is due to triple where she lives, an increase that she simply cannot afford.

Colon and other housing advocates visited apartment complexes in the San Fernando Valley where rents are being raised, forcing some tenants to face eviction and possible homelessness due to lack of affordability.

"This just can't stand in Los Angeles. This is not who we are. We need something different," said Rae Huang, who advocates for the homeless at the state level.

LOS ANGELES - In the three years since Los Angeles banned landlords from harassing tenants and made violating the rules a criminal offense, more than 13,000 complaints alleging harassment have been filed with the housing department. About two dozen of those cases were referred by the department to the city attorney’s office. So far, four fines are pending and no cases have been criminally prosecuted.

When it was approved in 2021, Los Angeles’ Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance was touted as a breakthrough for renters’ rights. At a time of rapidly rising housing costs, the rules were meant to protect tenants from being threatened or intimidated by landlords — a tactic advocates say is sometimes used to push people out of rent-controlled homes.

But tenant advocates say harassment has continued largely unchecked in the three years since the law passed, with tenants regularly reporting that their landlords resort to intimidation, illegal eviction notices, threats, lockouts and other actions meant to make their living situations difficult to bear. The thousands of complaints and lack of prosecutions since 2021 are further evidence that the law is weak and needs to be strengthened, advocates say.

At the end of this year’s legislative session, nearly a quarter of the 120 lawmakers will depart and collect their final state paycheck in late December.

Some hope to start in a new elected office next year, while others will return to their previous jobs. But based on recent history, at least one in five will land a job at companies or organizations trying to influence California’s government.

And as CalMatters Digital Democracy reporter Ryan Sabalow explains, it’s possible that some are job hunting while still voting on bills that could affect their prospective new bosses.

• Outgoing Republican Assemblymember Devon Mathis of Visilia: “August is kind of … the interview period. You see people that are trying to shop, you know, for a third-house gig or something like that.”

While legislators are still in office, state ethics guidelines allow voting on bills that could benefit a “significant segment” of an industry as long as it doesn’t deal specifically with their would-be employer. Mathis has started a public relations firm and agreed to work for an energy company, but said he checked with state ethics officials to make sure he wasn’t violating any laws. 

LOS ANGELES - I am 68 years old. I am a grandmother. I am homeless.

I never anticipated that, at this point in my life, I would be living in a hotel and placed on a waitlist, hoping for an affordable apartment to open up so I can finally have a safe and permanent place to call home.

Seniors are the fastest growing demographic of Californians becoming homeless, according to a study released last year by UC San Francisco’s Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. I am also part of the 80% of homeless seniors who had housing before becoming homeless, whether that was due to loss of income, conflicts with a landlord or California’s high housing costs.

LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles City committee Thursday approved permanent program guidelines for homeless prevention and affordable housing under Measure ULA, a real-estate transfer tax.

The United to House LA Citizen Oversight Committee unanimously voted in favor of the permanent guidelines, which will now be forwarded to City Council and Mayor Karen Bass for further consideration.

"Los Angeles' housing crisis hurts all of us, and it requires us to work harder and look farther ahead than we have so far," Laura Raymond, a member of the committee, said in a statement. "Experts say that the commodification of housing drives homelessness in Los Angeles, and the ULA blueprint is an alternative to that, built on proven approaches, and ready to put into practice today."

During public comment more than 25 people spoke in support of the guidelines. Several of these individuals are members of various organizations such as the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, the United to House LA coalition, LA/OC Building Trades union, SEIU 2015 and the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance, who also held a rally prior to the meeting.

LOS ANGELES, CA - 1932. 1984. 2028.

These are the years that Los Angeles hosted – or will host – the Summer Olympic Games.

Love it, hate it or still deciding, there’s no denying that the Olympics is a part of L.A.’s history and DNA.

Now, as some look ahead to the next four years and L.A.’s plans for hosting the Olympics a third time, it’s also worth taking a look back at the city’s storied relationship with the Games – and some of the lasting impacts that came from hosting the world’s biggest sporting event.

Some residents continue to express hesitation about hosting Olympic competitions in the Valley in 2028. And there are those who oppose L.A. hosting the Olympics at all.

At least two grassroots groups, NOlympics LA and the L.A. chapter of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) are concerned that the 2028 Games could result in the forced roundup of homeless people as the city tries to clean up its streets, knowing that L.A. will be under a global microscope.

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — As county leaders are looking to crack down on private equity firms buying up properties, a new report released on Thursday is shedding light on one corporate landlord that may have contributed to higher housing costs in San Diego.

The analysis, which was released by tenant advocacy groups Private Equity Stakeholder Project and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, zooms in on Blackstone Inc., an investment firm who acquired nearly 6,000 local rental units across San Diego County in 2021.

Using real estate data, it found the corporation hiked rent prices of the units it owns in San Diego by an average of 38%, or $600, since its acquisition of the buildings — nearly double the 20% median rent increase for apartments in the county during the same period.

For some Blackstone-owned buildings, including several located in historically low-income areas like San Ysidro and National City, these rent increases neared upwards of 80% over a three-year period, according to the report.

Rents are down slightly from this point last year, according to Rent.com, but that doesn't mean they're affordable.

Average rent for a studio apartment in San Diego is more than $2,300. For a two bedroom the average raises to $3,700.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors is trying to tackle the issue with a new initiative looking at the impact private equity is having on housing costs.

The board approved a series of actions at a meeting July 16. The county wants to know exactly how many condos, townhouses and single-family homes are owned by commercial entities and in what part of the county they're in.

It also looks at whether there's a legal remedy — litigation — to pursue against corporate landlords in response to allegations of price-fixing, price-gouging and tenant harassment.

Private equity firm Blackstone is the target of much of this critique. The firm acquired about 5,600 local rental units in 2021 and, according to tenant union the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, has raised rents significantly since.

ANTIOCH, California - On my way to Antioch for a Juneteenth celebration, I unexpectedly ran into my oldest sister, who was sitting in the same Amtrak car. She was headed to the Bay Area from Fresno to celebrate the holiday with her grandchildren, and while chatting, I began singing happy birthday to her. Soon, other travelers joyfully joined in to sing for her. 

These are the unique experiences that I’ve been able to have as a Black elder when I take the Amtrak train to and from the Pittsburg/Antioch Amtrak station. I know when I hop on the train, I can regularly run into family, friends and community members as they make their way to work, school or back home to their families.

Unfortunately, this kind of freedom is under threat, and tens of thousands are set to lose accessibility to this vital service.

LOS ANGELES, California - In an effort to stem the flow of people falling into homelessness, tenants who live in Los Angeles County’s unincorporated communities will get free legal representation to fight evictions — part of an ordinance approved by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, July 16.

In a unanimous vote, the board deemed it a right for residents facing evictions to be given legal representation, and that help will be dependent on income levels. The supervisors see the action as codifying another tool for battling homelessness by preventing more people from losing their homes and facing survival on the streets.

“We’ve heard from experts that people are falling into homelessness faster than we can get people off the streets and into housing,” said Fourth District Supervisor Janice Hahn. She said the program will level the playing field and give renters a better chance to stay housed. “Many cannot afford legal representation and their landlords often can.”

SAN DIEGO, California - The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 Tuesday in favor of a proposal that will address corporate "bad actors" who purchase homes and, in the words of the proposal, contribute to an already difficult affordable-housing situation.

Vice Chair Terra Lawson-Remer said her sponsored policy aims "to protect communities from illegal business practices, and safeguard housing options for first-time homebuyers and working families."

Lawson-Remer said private equity giants and large corporations "are increasingly buying up the nation's scarce supply of homes, including in the San Diego region," driving up prices for their own profit and making the housing affordability crisis worse.

"I can't stress it enough, but as tenants, we are getting displaced due to corporate greed," said Patricia Mendoza, of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment. "Our communities are not for sale."

CALIFORNIA - En California, los propietarios deben tener una razón válida o una causa justa para desalojar a un inquilino, pero los expertos indican que, desde la pandemia del COVID-19, el número de casos de desalojos ha ido en aumento.

"Lo que hemos visto es que depende dónde vive el inquilino, porque tenía distintas protecciones durante la pandemia, y el resultado es que estamos viendo una diferencia en dónde hay más desalojos", indicó Leah Simon-Weisberg, vocera de la Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment.

Según estadísticas de las cortes en California, de los 58 condados que tiene el estado, 28 registraron el número más alto de desalojos de los últimos cinco años.

SAN DIEGO, California - San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer said she will ask her colleagues on Tuesday to sue Blackstone, a New York real estate firm she alleges has engaged in tenant harassment, price fixing and gouging.

Lawson-Remer claims that starting in 2021, Blackstone has acquired 66 buildings in San Diego, totaling approximately 5,600 units. Since then, she claim some rents have surged 200%.

The supervisor alleges Blackstone has contributed to the rising housing costs in San Diego, where the median home price is around $1 million and rents can range from approaching $2,000 to more than $3,000.

Lawson-Remer joined about three dozen people and ACCE Institute, a community group, on Monday to picket a Blackstone property in Pacific Beach.

One of those protesters was Celeste Johnson.

"These big investment companies like Blackstone. They don't care about us. They don't care about our communities," Johnson said. "All they care about is their million-dollar investors."

SAN DIEGO, California - You can’t sleep here, you can’t sit over there, you can’t eat in that spot, panhandling isn’t allowed in this area — there have been a growing number of rules and policies dictating what kinds of “acts of living” people can do in public spaces and the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled against sleeping in public.

In Grants Pass v. Oregon, the court found that the city’s ordinance against sleeping or camping on public property did not qualify as “cruel and unusual punishment” under the Eighth Amendment. For people experiencing homelessness, advocacy groups, and the three dissenting justices, it was a missed opportunity to focus on responses that uphold the humanity and dignity of America’s homeless population. Nationally, more than 650,000 people were experiencing homelessness in 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; in the San Diego region, the 2024 point-in-time survey found 10,605 people locally were experiencing homelessness, according to the Regional Task Force on Homelessness San Diego.

Yesenia Miranda Meza is a member of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), a planning commissioner for the City of Pomona, and a co-founder and board member for Pomona United for Stable Housing (PUSH), who was assisted by ACCE in 2017 when she found herself facing a significant rent increase that she couldn’t afford.

Eric Tars is the senior policy director at the National Homelessness Law Center, whose father was born into and grew up in refugee camps during World War II, motivating his work and his desire that “I wouldn’t want anything less for anyone than I would have wanted for my own father.” Miranda Meza and Tars each took some time to discuss their thoughts about this ruling and their experience with the most effective responses to homelessness. (These interviews have been edited for length and clarity. )

CALIFORNIA - An intricate network of housing industry groups, often backed by corporate landlords, are actively blocking solutions that would alleviate the worst aspects of the current housing crisis and improve affordability, according to a new report.

The report, from Capital Strategies for the Common Good, the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, Bargaining for the Common Good, and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, sheds light on the money behind the political influence that has distorted the politics of housing in favor of wealthy interests, partly in response to a recent surge in tenant organizing at local, state, and federal levels that has begun to challenge the status quo.

“Corporate landlords do not merely profit off of the housing crisis to the tune of billions of dollars,” said Dustin Duong, research associate at Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund. “They then plow that money into lobbying efforts that stall or bury efforts to relieve the crisis. It is a vicious circle of money, politics, and industry influence.”

“Californians consistently identify high housing costs and homelessness as two of the top issues they want to see lawmakers address,” said Christina Livingston, Executive Director of the Alliance of Californians For Community Empowerment (ACCE). “However, to date, state and local governments have failed to pass policies or make investments commensurate with the scale of the problem. Why? One of the major reasons is the powerful and deep-pocketed corporate real estate lobby led by the California Apartment Association (CAA). While the CAA often claims to represent mom-and-pop landlords, the CAA’s agenda primarily serves their Wall Street corporate landlord leadership. The business model of these mega-corporate landlords is predicated on increasing profits at all costs by raising rents, neglecting maintenance, and evicting frequently – to the detriment of our cities, our communities, and our families.”

RICHMOND, California - Richmond city leaders late Tuesday voted unanimously in favor of a ballot measure that will ask voters whether or not Chevron should pay an additional tax on its refinery operations.

The City Council voted 7-0 for the proposed new oil refining business tax measure targeting Chevron, one of the world's largest oil companies. The measure is slated for the November ballot.

The mayor and vice mayor of Richmond have said the new tax would raise millions of dollars annually for the city.

Chevron, one of the world's largest oil companies, could end paying much more to do business in the East Bay, as Richmond city leaders Tuesday are set to vote on a new tax on the company's refinery. Bob Redell reports.
City officials and environmental groups have accused the Chevron refinery of harming the local environment and the residents who live nearby.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District estimates that each year, between five and 11 people die prematurely in Richmond because of emissions from the refinery.

CHARLOTTE, Carolina del Norte - Activistas de varias organizaciones nacionales llegaron de varios estados para realizar un tour por vecindarios de Charlotte para darle voz a su campaña “House Every One”, y apoyar a la organización local Action NC en su defensa por los derechos de los inquilinos de un complejo de casas móviles y de una familia latina que enfrenta un desalojo.

Una de las manifestaciones, que se realizó el pasado 10 de junio, se llevó a cabo en el complejo de casas móviles, Charlotte Hills Mobile Homes, donde la mayoría de los inquilinos son latinos.

“Tener un techo es un derecho”, fue una de las arengas que corearon los manifestantes en apoyo a los inquilinos.

SAN PABLO, California - The trouble began for Mauricio Badillo around July 2022, when the 43-year-old married father of three asked his landlord to address the mold in the home he rents in San Pablo.

LOS ANGELES, California - Familias que habitan en el edificio de apartamentos ubicado en el 3750 de la Avenida Glendon, en el distrito 5 de Los Ángeles denunciaron que los administradores de la compañía Maxim Management Realty Group, LLC, nueva propietaria del inmueble los han estado hostigando desde hace seis meses, con el presunto objetivo de efectuar arreglos para desalojarlos definitivamente.

A ritmo de tambores y megáfonos. los frustrados residentes gritaron: “¡A dondequiera que vayamos, la gente quiere saber quiénes somos! ¡Así se lo contamos: ¡Somos los vecinos poderosos! ¡Luchando por la justicia y contra los desalojos!”

El 17 de abril, varias familias del el 3750 en la Avenida Glendon recibieron una noticia de desalojo en un periodo de 60 días.

Cartas de la firma de abogados Dennis P. Block y Asociados, de Burbank, notifican que el dueño del edificio deseaba terminar sus contratos de mes a mes y les informa que tienen derecho a tarifas de reubicación por $24,650.

LOS ANGELES, California - As Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month was celebrated last May, Ysabel Jurado’s campaign for Los Angeles City Council District 14 (CD-14) received a week-long celebration highlighting endorsements from prominent AAPI community leaders and elected officials.

During AAPI month, her campaign staff announced a series of AAPI Community Leaders and Elected Official Endorsements for her in honor of AAPI Heritage Month, with Jurado being a recognized AAPI community leader.

They acknowledged her presence in the community due to her active involvement in issues affecting her constituents.

Kicking off the commemorative week was the endorsement from the Asian Democrats of Los Angeles County (ADLAC), a steadfast advocate for AAPI representation and empowerment in the political landscape.

The ADLAC’s endorsement reaffirms the growing momentum behind Jurado’s candidacy and underscores the pivotal role of AAPI voices in shaping the future of Los Angeles.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Tenants who spent weeks without electricity or hot water after a fire damaged their East Oakland apartment building are now suing their landlord and property manager.

While electricity has mostly been restored since the Jan. 5 basement blaze in the San Antonio neighborhood property, four units are still being powered by a loud generator, and renters say they incurred large expenses during the weeks when their fridges and lights weren’t working.

“All families deserve to have dignity, health, and safety in their homes,” said Jackie Zaneri, managing attorney with Movement Legal, speaking outside of the 26th Avenue building at a press conference Wednesday.

The lawsuit alleges landlords Victor and Amy Louie and the Oakland-based management company Selborne Properties violated several city and state tenant laws on habitability and relocation assistance. It describes numerous concerns with conditions in the building, both resulting from the fire and preexisting, including mold, broken fixtures, and cockroaches.

LOS ANGELES, CA - Trouble at the small apartment on Vernon Avenue had been brewing for months by the time things came to a head this spring.

For Kevin Diaz Lopez, his housing problems began around October. That’s when his brother and two nephews moved out from the one-bedroom South Los Angeles apartment they all shared, moving to be closer to work in the Long Beach area.

That left Diaz, who works in a packing warehouse, stuck with $1,600 monthly in rent. By January, he was falling behind.

No rental agreement
Diaz says he promised the manager he’d pay within a few days. But he says when he came home one day, he’d been locked out. Some of his things were sitting outside. A neighbor called police, along with a tenant rights group, and Diaz was allowed back in.

But the message he got from the manager was this: “That I was not on the (rental) contract,” Diaz said in Spanish, “and I could not be here.”

ANTIOCH, California - Some people in Antioch are worried about losing an important transit option and are fighting back against a plan to close the Antioch-Pittsburg Amtrak station.

"The last time it came it was like here and gone," said April Hill, carrying her friends suitcase to the Antioch train platform.

Hill has come by the Amtrak station to send a visiting friend back home towards the San Joaquin Valley. She knows it probably won't be long before Antioch says farewell to its downtown train station.

The plan is to open another stop to the east in downtown Oakley, and when that is open the Antioch stop will be decommissioned. Hill says it has already been scaled back to the bare minimum.

"Yeah, they have gotten rid of the benches and ticketing kiosk," Hill explained. " I mean it wasn't, like, really nice before, but now it's even emptier."

ANTIOCH, California - Community advocates have rallied at the Antioch Amtrak train station calling for officials to reverse their decision to close it.

The San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority, the body that oversees intercity passenger rail service, voted in March 2023 to close the train station amid concerns of vandalism, safety issues, fare evasion and unhoused individuals using the area for shelter. When the new station in Oakley opens in August 2025, the Antioch station is simultaneously set to close.

S.L. Floyd, housing board commissioner for the city of Pittsburg, showed his support during the rally, noting that many of his city’s residents also depend on Amtrak, which connects Antioch to not only workplace destinations in the west but also locations throughout the nation.

“This is a much-needed measure because we’re encouraging people to get out of their cars to take public transportation,” Floyd said. “Even though they’re building a new station in Oakley, we still need the resources and the public support here because many people cannot afford a personal automobile, so they really lean on public transportation.”

ANTIOCH, CA - Community members this week had a few choice words for Amtrak, which they chanted again and again: “Don’t drop our stop! Don’t drop our stop!”

With Antioch’s downtown train platform slated to close next year in favor of an Oakley stop, a group of residents and activists on Wednesday afternoon urged leaders to do whatever it takes to keep it open.

“This is really important to us because our community relies on this transportation to get to and from everywhere,” Tachina Garrett, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Action chair, told the dozens gathered near the platform. “This is not a low-income problem. This is a problem for the community; this train services veterans, senior citizens, students, youth and working families.”

SACRAMENTO, CA - They showed up at City Hall from across Sacramento. Ilene Toney, down from south Natomas. April Ybarra, whose daughters attend Hiram Johnson High School; and parent-teacher Vanessa Cudabac, who made the trip from New Technology High School, both from south Sacramento.

Inside, Sacramento City Council leaders were about to discuss the fate of RydeFreeRT — the pioneering mass transit program that ferries thousands of Sacramento kids to schools, work, venues and activities across the city each year for free — and whether it would survive potential budget cuts to help right the city’s $66 million deficit. The annual investment is funded by a city Measure U tax increase approved in 2018.

The city’s $1 million contribution to the program, credited with substantially boosting youth ridership and school attendance among the city’s Black and brown students, would end as part of a slate of proposed budget cuts.

SAN DIEGO, CA - I never thought that having a child would cause me to become homeless. I was pregnant and working full-time at a minimum-wage job when my daughter was born. My job refused me paid parental leave, and as a single parent without the income to afford costly child care, I was forced to stay home to care for my infant child. This cost me my income and my ability to pay rent.

Within months, my landlord threatened to call the sheriff to evict me. My daughters and I became homeless. We didn’t even own a car to sleep in. For months, I stayed with friends, until we found an emergency women’s shelter.

When the women’s shelter told us after a year that we needed to leave to make room for other families, I was pushed back into the nightmare of trying to find housing we could afford. Between a security deposit and first and last month’s rent, I was being asked to come up with nearly $10,000 to find a home. Working minimum wage as a single parent doesn’t afford me the ability to have that kind of savings.

By a miracle, we finally found an apartment. It was a stretch financially, but for the last seven years, my daughters and I have been stable. Finally — no more shelters. No more couch surfing.

But in 2021, things changed.

SACRAMENTO, CA - California Gov. Gavin Newsom is sponsoring a bill that would push cities to take homeless residents into account when crafting their housing goals.

But would this legislation actually result in more affordable housing? There are concerns the state is not providing enough money to get it built.

Cities have struggled to meet their state-mandated goalposts when it comes to permitting low-income units. Some advocates say planning is an empty promise without more money to build the housing.

“Gov. Newsom continues to ignore the elephant in the room — that local jurisdictions cannot meet their housing goals at lower income levels without significant additional public funding,” said Amy Schur of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment in a statement.

PITTSBURG, CA - Pittsburg renters fed up with high rents and the lack of tenant protections have moved a step closer to getting new rules on this November’s ballot.

Backed by the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, housing advocates on Wednesday turned in the more than 4,000 signatures needed to bring rent stabilization, just cause evictions and tenant protection rules before voters. Election officials have 30 days to verify the signatures.

“We did it,” Richmond City Councilman and ACCE member Melvin Willis told the small group gathered in front of City Hall. “Now, with all these signatures, we are going to be able to get this on the ballot and folks who didn’t have rental protections, eviction protections before ….they have a chance to actually assert the right not to be taken advantage of by people who are just looking at their housing as another price up in the stock market.”

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento leaders are debating where the city will need to make cuts to close a $66 million budget deficit.

City Manager Howard Chan's $1.6 billion budget avoids city worker layoffs, but it also includes a variety of fee hikes and service cuts to programs.

On Monday, community members weighed in during the public comment session of the city council meeting.

"I see a lot of folks here who really care about the city, and they care about their community," said Judy Hirigoyen, who was one of several commenters who decided to speak out about the city's proposed $87,000 cut to its funding to the SMUD Museum of Science and Curiosity.

"This particular museum has no alternative in the area, and you just can't go by without seeing buses that have brought children for field trips," she said.

Others came to ask the council to reconsider cutting its $1 million contribution to the SacRT Ryde Free Program to help kids get to and from school using public transit.

"Why would you take that away from people that are part of the disadvantaged populations?" asked Suzanne Ansell, with the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment organization.

LOS ANGELES, CA - A family is devastated after a 12-year-old boy was struck and killed while walking home from school in South Los Angeles.

Derrick Serrano, 12, was walking home when he crossed the street near Vernon and Wadsworth Avenues at around 3 p.m. on April 18.

That’s when a driver struck and killed the boy. His mother, Claudia Gramajo, believes his death could’ve been prevented if proper safety measures had been put in place.

“Derrick had a big heart,” Gramajo said tearfully. “The biggest heart you’ve ever known. He left home at 7:40 a.m. in the morning and he never came back.”

LOS ANGELES, CA - A family continues grieving after a 12-year-old boy was struck and killed while crossing the street in South Los Angeles.

On April 18, Derrick Serrano, 12, was walking home from school when he decided to cross the street near Vernon and Wadsworth Avenues at around 3 p.m. That’s when a driver struck and killed the boy. His mother, Claudia Gramajo, believes the deadly crash could’ve been prevented if proper safety measures were put in place.

Serrano was a 6th grader at Carver Middle School located in the South Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. He takes a short walk back home, but one that navigates heavily congested roads and intersections and is noticeably devoid of crosswalks, signs or safety signals to protect students. KTLA's John Fenoglio reports on May 4, 2024.

I’m fortunate I wasn’t sexually assaulted while living on the streets of Los Angeles County. Many unhoused women are, and some repeatedly – though being attacked three times helped me qualify for a shelter bed.

On any given night in Los Angeles County, more than 22,300 women are homeless. When I was unhoused from 2020-2023, there were only eight women’s shelters in the county, none of which were near me. All of them were at capacity.

With an underfunded homeless services sector and a growing number of Californians being pushed into homelessness, rationing help for only those deemed most vulnerable has become standard practice. Without a child, mental illness or addiction issues, it’s difficult to qualify for needed assistance and services.

Everyone that’s unhoused needs help but not everyone that’s unhoused qualifies for help.

OAKLAND, CA - Dozens of California homeowners allege an Oakland-based lending company conspired with contractors to issue fraudulent loans for home improvement projects that were never completed.

Nearly 160 complaints have been filed against the financial lending platform, Solar Mosaic, since 2019, according to data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And on Monday, a group of nearly 100 people drove from Los Angeles to protest outside Solar Mosaic’s headquarters in downtown Oakland, demanding to meet with the company and seek loan forgiveness and repayments.

Julie Robles was among Monday’s demonstrators. The Los Angeles homeowner said Viridi Construction, a construction company working to build an accessory dwelling unit, or in-law apartment, on her property requested $75,000 from Solar Mosaic, which the lender allegedly granted without any prior authorization from her.

“I’m already retired, so if something happened, I wouldn’t be able to recover the money,” said Robles, who is trying to get out of a $75,000 loan, plus nearly $3,000 in interest and fees. “I trusted them.”

OAKLAND, CA - Dozens of Los Angeles residents tumbled out of buses in downtown Oakland on Monday afternoon. Clad in yellow shirts, some wore drums around their necks and others had signs taped to their chests with large dollar amounts—$50,000, $86,000.

They’d driven up from Southern California to protest at the Oakland headquarters of a controversial solar and home-improvement lender. The homeowners and their family members, over 100 people total, are accusing the lender, Solar Mosaic, of teaming up with contractors to take advantage of them.

The protesters allege that Mosaic is issuing payments directly to these companies for work left partially completed or never even started. The homeowners end up in debt with their home in shambles. They’ve organized with the Los Angeles “Home Defenders” chapter of ACCE, a statewide housing advocacy group that’s active in Oakland as well.

Marching inside 601 12th St., a new downtown highrise, the protesters formed a long line inside the lobby. Solar Mosaic has an office inside the building, though its executives appear to be based in Glendale.

The protesters snaked around the room. They chanted, yelled, shook noisemakers, and banged drums. Security guards and front desk staff glanced at each other and got on the phone. They blocked off entry to the rest of the building, but ultimately allowed the protest to continue for over an hour.

“The bank wants to take our house, the house I grew up in,” yelled a young woman into a microphone. “That’s not fair, right?”

“No!” shouted the crowd.

SACRAMENTO, CA - Protesters march demanding CA lawmakers invest in more affordable housing.

LOS ANGELES, CA - As historic labor struggles rage on, attacks on immigrant rights increase, housing prices skyrocket, and armed conflicts with unimaginable human loss continue, the Los Angeles May Day Coalition announces the 2024 May Day march theme: “Solidarity is Power: The People United.” This year’s May Day demonstration features a new march route and location.

On International Workers’ Day, May 1, 2024, thousands of immigrants, workers, students, educators, parents, activists, and people of faith will unite in solidarity to take over the streets of Hollywood—the entertainment capital of the world and the economic epicenter of Los Angeles—in a powerful demonstration for better wages, housing for all, a path to citizenship, the right to strike, and a call for a ceasefire in war-torn areas and an end to all wars.

SAN PABLO, California - Tenant advocates are ready to put a rent control measure on the November ballot in San Pablo, while renter and landlord groups across the Bay Area have launched dueling campaigns.

Tenant groups led by the Los Angeles-based Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment have submitted to the East Bay city more than 1,500 signatures needed to bring a measure to cap rent increases and add renter protections before voters, the East Bay Times reported.

Officials will now work to verify the signatures.

In addition to San Pablo, tenant groups led by the alliance are coordinating signature gathering campaigns for rent control measures in Redwood City, Pittsburg and Larkspur, according to the Times.

The proposed ballot measures in each city would cap yearly rent increases to 60 percent of the inflation rate and no more than 3 percent or 5 percent in total, depending on the city. They would also beef up enforcement of current renter protections and add rules against tenant harassment.

SAN PABLO, California - Over 1,600 signatures were submitted to the San Pablo city clerk by activists Tuesday for a renter protection legislation package to go on the November ballot.

The Contra Costa County registrar of voters has 30 days to approve at least 1,278 valid signatures before it goes to voters.

If it goes on the ballot and is approved in the election, the package would establish a rent program under the city manager's office, where tenants can file petitions if the landlord fails to make repairs or takes away housing service and landlords can file a petition if they are not receiving a reasonable return on their investment. It also includes ordinances for rent stabilization, tenant anti-harassment and just-cause evictions.

"There is no state law that makes these requirements," said Leah Simon-Weisberg, a UC Law San Francisco professor who directs the legal nonprofit California Center for Movement Legal Services that wrote the ballot initiative for San Pablo.

SAN PABLO, California - Tenant advocates in San Pablo are one step closer to getting rent control on the ballot this November.

On Tuesday, advocates submitted to the city more than 1,500 signatures needed to bring a measure to cap rent increases and add renter protections before voters. Officials will now seek to verify the signatures.

In recent months, renter and landlord groups across the Bay Area have launched similar ballot-box campaigns, including competing measures to either expand or roll back tenant protections in Berkeley. In Concord, a landlord-backed effort was underway to repeal a newly approved rent control law but didn’t have the signatures.

In addition to San Pablo, tenant groups led by the influential Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment are also coordinating signature gathering pushes in Redwood City, Pittsburg and Larkspur.

LOS ANGELES, California - Tenant rights organizations gathered Wednesday afternoon on USC’s campus to express their outrage with the university’s building plans for upcoming expansion projects. The protest started at the S Vermont Ave and Downey Way intersection and ended at Doheny Memorial Library.

In attendance were representatives from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Eastside LEADS, Inner City Struggle, Legacy LA and ACCE Action.

The protestors wrote and posted an eviction notice to USC President Carol Folt. They delivered it to Rene Pak instead, chief of staff in Folt’s office. The eviction notice stated: “YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that effective THIRTY (30) DAYS from the date of service on you of this notice; the tenancy of the premises known as the USC Health Science Campus and South L.A. Campus is terminated, at which time you are required to vacate and surrender possession of the premises.”

The notice demands fair union contracts for shuttle bus drivers and maintenance workers, various community benefit agreements, support of legacy businesses and defunding USC’s Department of Public Safety (DPS).

LOS ANGELES, California - Protestors mobilized at Viterbi today and marched throughout campus to Bovard Auditorium. They called attention to the increasing presence of wealthy investors building and buying homes at the expense of local residence.

The Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, or ACCE, led the protest. Sergio Vargas is the co-director of ACCE.

Sergio Vargas: They’re building this three, four story buildings where they’re charging $1,000 per bed, which is unfair for the students. It’s unfair for the community. And it’s created a lot of chaos for our people, our folks are being taken out of their communities so they can make space for students who are going to come here are going to be here for maybe three months, six months, a year, and they’re going to be gone. They truly do not care about this area and the historic community that has been here for years.

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, California - The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved removing immigration requirements and raised income eligibility limitations for the county’s basic healthcare program.

The amended policy aims to assist 10,500 uninsured people by providing access to general care, mental health, specialist medical care, and emergency and inpatient treatments within the county’s healthcare network and community clinics.

Supervisor John Gioia described the healthcare expansion as a corrective measure for a “mistake.” During the 2009 recession, the county added legal status as a requirement to qualify for its public healthcare. This measure would rescind that requirement.

“We are creating equity by removing the barrier we placed in 2009 on undocumented [people] when they were kicked off the program,” said Gioia during the board meeting.

LOS ANGELES, California - Al grito de “viviendas asequibles, ahora” y con conmovedores testimonios de desamparadas que afortunadamente ya pudieron dejar las calles, líderes sindicales, trabajadores, funcionarios de la ciudad de Los Ángeles celebraron el primer aniversario de la entrada en vigor de la Medida ULA, que ha permitido hasta la fecha la recaudación de 215 millones de dólares que están siendo utilizados para la construcción de viviendas accesibles y para el programa de ayuda a los inquilinos con problemas para pagar la renta.

En lo anterior coincidieron el director de United to House LA, Joe Donlin, los concejales Hugo Soto Martínez y Bob Blumenfield, la presidenta del Comité de Supervisión Ciudadana de la ULA, Michelle Espinosa Coulter, la presidenta del Sindicato de Profesores de Los Ángeles, Gloria Martínez, durante el acto de celebración que se realizó el pasado jueves, 4 de Abril en Santa Mónica/Vermont Metro Plaza ubicado a un lado del edificio de apartamentos asequibles de 187 unidades que se está construyendo con fondos obtenidos a través de la Medida ULA.

Last month, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders reintroduced the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act, which would enable the spending of a much-needed $230 billion to weatherize, electrify, and repair all public housing.

For over fifty years now, the federal government has grossly neglected and slashed the budget of our nation’s public housing stock. Government programs have actively privatized and demolished public housing. Policymakers, through the “war on drugs,” have subjected public housing residents to racist criminalization and overpolicing.

Public housing remains a critical source of deeply affordable housing for the lowest-income families. Yet, in the midst of growing houselessness, we lose fifteen thousand of these precious homes every year to decay and lack of repair. Instead of allocating direct public funding for affordable housing, we rely on the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program (LIHTC), a scheme offering tax breaks to Wall Street investors, which diverts public money toward their profit-skimming. Meanwhile, policymakers’ decisions to gut our public housing directly fueled the explosion of mass homelessness we’ve seen across the United States since the 1980s.

“Blackstone and corporate landlords like them are worsening the housing crisis, as they seek to extract maximum profits for their investors. We need to stop allowing these big corporate landlords to buy up our neighborhoods,” says Amy Schur, campaign director of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment. “Instead, we should publicly fund housing that is off the private, speculative market.”

NEWPORT BEACH, California - Muchos propietarios que ofrecen viviendas nuevas para personas de bajos ingresos en California no podrán aumentar el alquiler de sus inquilinos en más del 10% anual, según una regla impuesta esta semana por un comité estatal.

El límite, aprobado el miércoles por el Comité de Asignación de Créditos Fiscales de California, afecta a todos los desarrollos futuros construidos con la ayuda de Créditos Fiscales para Viviendas de Bajos Ingresos. California otorga créditos federales y estatales para construir alrededor de 20,000 nuevas unidades al año; El programa es la principal fuente de financiación gubernamental para que los promotores privados construyan viviendas asequibles. 

La regla es similar a una ley estatal de 2019 para otros inquilinos: restringe los aumentos anuales al 5% más la inflación o al 10%, lo que sea menor.

NEWPORT BEACH, California - Many landlords providing new low-income housing in California won’t be able to increase the rent on their tenants by more than 10% per year, under a rule imposed this week by a state committee.

The cap, passed Wednesday by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, affects all future developments built with the help of Low Income Housing Tax Credits. California awards the federal and state credits to build about 20,000 new units a year; the program is the primary government funding source for private developers to build affordable housing. 

The rule is similar to a 2019 state law for other tenants — restricting annual increases to either 5% plus inflation, or 10%, whichever is lower.

ANTIOCH, CA - El Concejo de la Ciudad de Antioch ordenó el martes al personal a redactar una ordenanza de desalojo por causa justa que tenga como objetivo fortalecer las protecciones para los inquilinos más allá de las leyes estatales actuales.

Los defensores de la ordenanza dicen que podría proteger a los inquilinos de desalojos sin causa y prevenir que algunas familias se queden sin hogar.

Organizaciones de defensa de los inquilinos y políticas y de igualdad racial como ACCE Action, Rising Juntos, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, Monument Impact y Movement Legal, junto con residentes y líderes religiosos de Antioch, han estado presionando por una ordenanza que proteja a los inquilinos de desalojos sin causa, como renovaciones para evadir las prohibiciones de aumento de alquiler a los inquilinos de larga data.

ANTIOCH, CA - Over the last several years, organizers and housing rights advocates in Antioch have made significant progress in fighting for tenant rights: they’ve established rent control and helped pass a tenant anti-harassment ordinance. Now, they’re working to prevent unjust evictions.

“Now we're pushing for just cause ordinance in order to essentially protect as many families who have been left out by state policy when it comes to evictions and why somebody can be evicted.”

This is Luis Fernando Anguiano, he’s with the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, or ACCE. He says that Antioch has some of the highest eviction rates in the Bay Area, mostly due to loopholes in various tenant protection laws.

For example, renters living in single family owner-occupied homes aren’t protected by “just cause” eviction protections, nor are tenants who’ve been renting for fewer than 12 months. Again, Aguiano.

“We don't think that that is quite reasonable.”

BERKELEY, California - Berkeley is now the latest battleground in the fight over rent control in the Bay Area, with landlord and tenant groups working to bring competing measures before voters this November to either expand or roll back renter protections in the city.

Across the Bay Area, advocates on both sides of the contentious housing debate have started ballot-box campaigns in recent months, including a landlord-backed effort to repeal a newly approved rent control law in Concord. In Larkspur, in Marin County, a similar referendum on the March 5 ballot to overturn caps on rent hikes appears likely to fail by a narrow margin.

“The housing crisis is so bad that it’s touched everybody,” said Leah Simon-Weisberg, a tenant advocate, attorney and chair of the Berkeley Rent Board, which developed one of the two latest ballot measures. “We need all the tools in the toolbox to address the housing crisis.”

ANTIOCH, California - El martes, el Ayuntamiento de Antioch considerará crear una ordenanza de desalojo por causa justa que agregaría protecciones para los inquilinos dentro de la ciudad, y los defensores de los inquilinos se manifestarán antes de la reunión.

Los defensores de la ordenanza aseguraron que podría proteger a los inquilinos de desalojos sin culpa y evitar que algunas familias se queden sin hogar.

Grupos de defensa de inquilinos planean asistir a la reunión para compartir sus experiencias y describir cómo la aprobación de tal ordenanza afectaría sus vidas.

"Durante los últimos meses, hemos estado hablando con la gente, escuchando historias sobre la falta de protección en la ciudad y las preocupaciones que tiene la gente sobre quedarse sin hogar", dijo Luis Fernando Anguiano, asociado de comunicaciones a nivel estatal de la Alianza de Californianos por Acción de Empoderamiento Comunitario.

LOS ANGELES, California - Inquilinos de diferentes áreas de Los Ángeles se reunieron con lideres y activistas de organizaciones comunitarias quienes les ofrecieron información sobre sus derechos para evitar que sean víctimas de acoso por parte de los propietarios de sus viviendas.

LOS ANGELES, California - En Estados Unidos, las comisiones por sobregiros bancarios cuestan a los consumidores más de 8,000 millones de dólares cada año, y más del 80% de este beneficio adicional para las grandes instituciones bancarias provino del 9% de los clientes más pobres, afroamericanos y latinos

Gracias a la ley AB 1177 del asambleísta Miguel Santiago, aprobada en octubre de 2021 por el gobernador Gavin Newsom, personas como Javier Enrique Sarmiento, un hondureño de El Progreso Yoro, ya no tendrá que pagar los $15.00 de recargos mensuales que le hace su banco, cada vez que no puede tener al menos $300.00.

“Me arrepiento de haber abierto una cuenta con el banco”, afirma Sarmiento, quien trabaja como pintor independiente. “En 10 años me han cobrado mucho dinero”.

SAN DIEGO, California - A new express bus line in the South Bay has survived a campaign to get rid of it, just months after the route went into service.

The Rapid 227 electric bus line, which connects the Otay Mesa Port of Entry and Imperial Beach, has faced a blooming debate in the small waterfront city. Dozens of residents there said they were frustrated by the arrival of new noise and street traffic and accused county transit authorities of not doing enough to consult with the neighborhood.

The bus also drew passionate support from dozens of other Imperial Beach residents, along with a number of community advocates and city officials. They said the new bus line was an essential resource for binational commuters and students and argued it was far too soon to consider winding it down.

After a lengthy public hearing last month, the Imperial Beach City Council said they would support keeping the bus line in place. They recommended transit authorities consider shifting the route slightly so it would be less disruptive to some neighborhoods.

Advocates and many residents celebrated the decision.

“We believe that it's going to provide a lot of benefits for our South Bay communities,” said transit advocate Randy Torres-Van Vleck. “It's a lifeline for our communities to get around, participate in the economy, get across the border, get to school, get to resources, and get to the beach.”

ANTIOCH, California - Antioch will for the first time in history fly the Pan-African flag at City Hall through Juneteenth in honor of Black Americans who contributed to the enrichment of the community.

Originally proposed as a Black History Month display, the flag flying was extended because it came on the agenda so late in the month on Feb. 27. Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe, who sets the agenda, requested an extension because of the delay, noting the requester – Antioch’s Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment – had done so in a timely fashion.
“I reviewed the request and thought it was a great idea,” the mayor said of the flag flying in what is now one of the Bay Area’s most diverse cities.

Mayor Pro-Tem Monica Wilson moved for approval, with an extension until Juneteenth, the June 19 holiday that commemorates the end of slavery.

Union workers and students at seven UC campuses called for the UC to “break up” with Blackstone — the largest commercial landlord in the U.S. — and promote more affordable housing options in tandem with Valentine’s Day at a Feb. 14 rally.

The joint action was organized by the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) Action, which previously helped pass the Homeless Prevention Act in 2019 to protect tenant rights. The collective effort was also supported by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) 3299, a UC-wide union representing over 30,000 service workers and patient care technical workers, among others. The union is currently undergoing contract negotiations with the University for better wages and benefits and wants to include a clause for divestment within their contract, according to AFSCME 3299 UC Santa Barbara organizer and union representative Wendy Santamaria.

“Right now they’re bargaining for better wages, better benefits, but one of the specific things that we’re negotiating is a housing package that is able to provide financial assistance for members,” Santamaria said. 

A San Francisco lawmaker introduced what’s believed to be first-in-the-nation legislation this month that would require California landlords to accept pets.

The bill, AB 2216 by Democratic Assemblymember Matt Haney, is currently a spot bill with details to be fleshed out in the coming weeks and months. Haney said the intention is to bar property owners from asking about pets on applications, prohibit additional monthly fees for pet owners — or “pet rent” — and limit pet deposits.

The legislation, which is sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States, is aimed at solving a big problem Haney said he sees in the rental world: an overabundance of tenants with pets and a shortage of landlords willing to accept them.

“A two-tiered system that punishes people for having pets, or treats them differently, or has a greater burden on them just for that fact should not be allowed in the law,” Haney said.

LOS ANGELES, CA – In a hotly debated Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) board meeting February 13, a motion to lessen the negative impact on public schools from charter school co-location passed 4 to 3.

The original September 2023 motion, by Jackie Goldberg and Dr. Rociso Rivas, basically called for a study by the superintendent on the negative impact of charter schools that reside inside public schools. At the Tuesday meeting, a new policy was approved that will help hold back the growth of charter school co-locations.

Antonieta Garcia of East Los Angeles, an advocate and mother of children in LAUSD, stated: “This is a big victory for our ELA community. We have been fighting co-location and the saturation of charter schools for many years!”

BERKELEY, California - UC Berkeley students and Berkeley residents joined a rally led by the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, or ACCE, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME-3299. The procession marched from Blackwell Hall to the chancellor’s office on Valentine’s Day to push the UC system to divest from Blackstone.

Starting at 11:45 a.m., protesters took a stance against the university, alleging several billion dollars worth of investment in Blackstone, to which protesters attributed the skyrocketing rent prices in Berkeley. Campus is a large shareholder in Blackstone, a private equity firm and one of the largest residential and corporate landlords in the United States. Several student housing residencies in Berkeley are also owned by Blackstone.

“This is the first of many protests we’ll be holding in solidarity with AFSCME, to bring attention to the irresponsible policies of the university,” said Eric Lerner, director of climate change and corporate accountability with ACCE. “We want to send a message that the UC needs to divest its (billions) invested in Blackstone, a company that is causing a national housing crisis.”

On Valentine’s Day, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024, students, the University of California’s (UC) union of low-wage frontline service and patient care workers – members of AFSCME Local 3299 – alongside Blackstone tenants and community members with the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) called on UC Chancellors to “Break up with Blackstone” and invest in affordable housing. The global Wall Street private equity firm Blackstone has become the largest landlord in America and has been accused of worsening high housing costs and evictions.

Actions were held across the state in seven locations on the campuses of UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, UCLA, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego. The renewed call to divest from Blackstone follows the announcement of its $3.5 billion acquisition of Tricon Residential Inc. UC invested $4.5 billion in Blackstone’s BREIT in 2023 to boost investor confidence amid a wave of shareholder redemptions.

LOS ANGELES, California - In celebration of Valentine’s Day, 75 UC employees and community members demanded the University to “break up” with and divest from Blackstone outside the chancellor’s office in Murphy Hall.

The workers – who are represented by American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 – alleged that the University’s ties to Blackstone prevent the UC from being an “ethical landlord,” and they urged the UC Regents to invest in affordable housing, divest from Blackstone and bargain a fair new contract for the union.

AFSCME Local 3299, which represents service, patient care technical and skilled craft workers employed by the University, held simultaneous actions Wednesday on eight UC campuses. Workers at UCLA, alongside members of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, began their march to the chancellor’s office at 11:45 a.m. as the UC Board of Regents met at the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center a short walk away.

Union members marched in unison, chanting slogans such as “Break up with Blackstone,” “No housing, no peace,” and “UCLA, you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side.”

Once they arrived inside Murphy Hall, union and community members delivered handwritten “breakup letters” to Chancellor Gene Block and the regents with the union’s demands. They also posted a sign on the wall that read, “University of CA, invest in the housing we need, not Blackstone’s greed.”

“We’re struggling beyond any point that we can understand,” said senior custodian Enrique Rosas in a speech. “Yet we show up every day. We show up every single day, Monday through Friday, doing our job – and do they care? No.”

LOS ANGELES—Blackstone’s planned acquisition of the single-family rental company Tricon Residential will further exacerbate the housing affordability crisis and harm tenants and workers, according to UNITE HERE Local 11, AFSCME Local 3299, the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP).

As Blackstone seeks to grow as a landlord, workers at its hotel properties struggle to afford rent. Workers at the Blackstone-owned Fairfield LAX/El Segundo, Aloft LAX/El Segundo and Sheraton Phoenix went on strike last year and continue to fight for a contract that will provide living wages, affordable benefits, and adequate staffing. While 29 hotels have settled agreements that will enable workers to survive in Southern California, Blackstone’s hotels have failed to do so.

Apenas comenzó febrero y California ha sido azotada por lluvias torrenciales y fuertes vientos gracias a un río atmosférico que trae miles de millones de galones de agua evaporada desde el Océano Pacífico hasta la Costa Oeste. Este sistema meteorológico ha dejado cientos de miles de californianos sin luz y muchos ahora tienen que hacer frente, una vez más, a las inundaciones en sus casas o a las pertenencias destruidas por las filtraciones de agua de lluvia.

La buena noticia: Si usted es inquilino y su vivienda ha sufrido daños, el arrendador tiene obligaciones estatales con usted, independientemente de si tiene un contrato de alquiler o no.

La mala noticia: Puede resultar que algunos arrendatarios tarden en reparar los daños en su casa y otros pueden hasta negar esta responsabilidad.

Por eso, KQED habló con Leah Simon-Weisberg, directora legal del grupo de inquilinos Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), para entender mejor qué derechos un inquilino tiene durante y después una tormenta y también cómo puede comunicarse con su arrendador.

LOS ANGELES, CA - Blackstone’s planned acquisition of the single-family rental company Tricon Residential will further exacerbate the housing affordability crisis and harm tenants and workers, according to UNITE HERE Local 11, AFSCME Local 3299, the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP).

As Blackstone seeks to grow as a landlord, workers at its hotel properties struggle to afford rent. Workers at the Blackstone-owned Fairfield LAX/El Segundo, Aloft LAX/El Segundo and Sheraton Phoenix went on strike last year and continue to fight for a contract that will provide living wages, affordable benefits, and adequate staffing. While 29 hotels have settled agreements that will enable workers to survive in Southern California, Blackstone’s hotels have failed to do so.

The $1 trillion private equity giant Blackstone—which is already the largest landlord in the U.S. —announced on January 19 that it planned to get even bigger by acquiring Tricon, which owns and operates 38,000 single family rental properties in the U.S, including properties in California and Arizona.

SACRAMENTO, CA - As California’s 2024 legislative session begins, the California Working Families Party (CA WFP) is launching a three-pronged poster campaign today to denounce the strong influence that Big Oil still retains over California politics. The panels denounce three Democratic lawmakers who took money out of fossil fuels and voted for the industry’s agenda. These lawmakers illustrate how big oil companies retain power in Sacramento, as nearly two-thirds of fossil fuel donations went to Democratic state lawmakers last year.

Despite California’s bold steps to hold polluters accountable, from suing big oil companies for the climate damage they’ve caused to passing laws requiring big companies to disclose their carbon emissions, greenhouse gases, only a handful of Democratic state lawmakers can block action on climate and consumer protections. Analysis by the California Working Families Party reveals that these Democrats consistently support the interests of big oil, often in conflict with their voters’ progressive voting history.

SAN DIEGO, CA - Mayor Todd Gloria will deliver his fourth State of the City Address Wednesday, addressing the city's ongoing issues, such as homelessness, housing affordability, infrastructure and public safety . . .

Gloria has continued to change to a punitive tack on the homelessness issue, joining with City Councilman Stephen Whitburn in pushing for the Unsafe Camping Ordinance, which the council passed 5-4 in June.

The proposal is intended to ban tent encampments at all times in certain sensitive areas -- parks, canyons and near schools, transit stations and homeless shelters -- regardless of shelter capacity. Signs have gone up across the city, effectively criminalizing homelessness in large swaths of the city.

Barbara Pinto, a member of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, compared the proposal during public comment "to pouring water on a drowning man."

Pinto urged the council to focus on providing more affordable housing. Others suggested the council either table the proposal or scrap the plan altogether and craft a new one. More than a few opponents urged the council to go with 2019 community action plan to tackle homelessness.

BAY AREA - Invitation Homes, the nation’s largest owner of single-family rentals, will pay $3.7 million to settle allegations it illegally hiked rent for hundreds of California tenants, state Attorney General Rob Bonta announced.

The attorney general’s office says the company — which is also the single largest owner of residential property in the Bay Area — raised rents between October 2019 and December 2022 on 1,900 homes in California beyond the amounts allowed by the Tenant Protection Act. That state law, passed in 2019, caps annual rent increases to 5%, plus a percentage change in the cost of living, up to 10%.

“Californians are facing a housing crisis of epic proportion. California has laws in place to protect tenants from sudden, large rent increases, and landlords need to be diligent in ensuring that they abide by those laws,” Bonta said in a statement on Monday. “The settlement announced today should serve as a reminder to landlords in California to familiarize themselves with the law and protections put in place to keep homes accessible to Californians.”

REDWOOD CITY, CA - A new ordinance filed in Redwood City would create one of the most expansive rent control policies in the county, as well as include anti-harassment provisions meant to close what advocates say are loopholes in the state’s tenant protection laws.

If passed, a new rent stabilization program would be created to set the allowable rent increases for applicable properties, not to exceed 5% each year. Landlords would pay a monthly $7 to $10 fee to fund the program, which would also oversee other tenant protection-related issues. 

“Local advocates have been trying to get the council to pass the same policies, so it’s now been years and years of asking for the same policies that exist in so many other Bay Area communities and asking them to adopt them in Redwood City,” ACCE Institute Legal Director Leah Simon-Weisberg said. 

BAY AREA, CA - Tenant advocates are pushing to put rent control measures on the ballot in at least four Bay Area cities this November, the latest effort to expand such protections across the region as tens of thousands continue struggling with sky-high housing costs.

Advocacy groups this month plan to file proposed rent control ordinances with Redwood City, San Pablo, Pittsburg and Larkspur, the first step toward gathering the thousands of signatures needed to bring the measures before voters . . .

Campaign organizers, including the influential Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, contend there are few other options after cities resisted years-long efforts to adopt adequate tenant safeguards.

“They’ve been trying and trying and trying at the local level to go before their local officials,” said Leah Simon-Weisberg, legal director for the alliance. “These are all cities that have an affordability crisis in their communities.”

BAY AREA - In a coordinated effort, tenants in four Bay Area cities have submitted the initial filings to place local rent control and tenant protection measures on the November 2024 ballot.

The measures that could come before voters in Larkspur, Pittsburg, San Pablo and Redwood City would limit annual rent increases (5% or 3%, depending on the city), prohibit “renovictions,” and limit owner move-in evictions, among other protections. Advocates have also proposed a similar ballot initiative in the Kern County city of Delano.

Trinidad Villagomez, a 22-year resident of Redwood City, said the proposed city ordinances would help stabilize renters amid continually rising housing prices. The average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in Redwood City is $2,500, according to Zillow, and ranges from more than $2,800 per month in Larkspur to nearly $1,700 in San Pablo.

“This law will help stabilize families, particularly low-income families,” Villagomez said.

BAY AREA, CA - When California lawmakers passed a rent cap four years ago to protect tenants from large and frequent rent hikes, they exempted hundreds of thousands of units reserved for some of the state’s poorest renters.

Low-income housing, after all, is usually built with public subsidies that already impose rent ceilings on developers and property owners. Some are already managed or overseen by local public housing agencies.

But California also has more than 350,000 privately owned low-income housing units — built with the help of federal tax credits — exempted from the state’s rent cap. Residents of some of those units have seen their rents soar despite being the exact demographic the law sought to protect.

AREA DE LA BAHIA, CA - Cuando los legisladores de California aprobaron un tope de pago alquiler hace cuatro años para proteger a los inquilinos de aumentos grandes y frecuentes, eximieron a cientos de miles de unidades reservadas para algunos de los inquilinos más pobres del estado.

Después de todo, las viviendas para personas de bajos ingresos generalmente se construyen con subsidios públicos que ya imponen límites máximos de alquiler a los promotores y propietarios. Algunas ya están administradas o supervisadas por agencias locales de vivienda pública.

Pero California también tiene más de 350,000 unidades de vivienda de propiedad privada para personas de bajos ingresos (construidas con la ayuda de créditos fiscales federales) exentas del límite de alquiler estatal. Los residentes de algunas de esas unidades han visto dispararse sus alquileres a pesar de ser exactamente el grupo demográfico que la ley buscaba proteger.

STATEWIDE - On November 14, 2023, Liz Ruvalcaba was served with a summons and complaint notifying her that a lawsuit had been filed by her landlord to evict her from her home. It didn’t come as a shock.

One week earlier, Ruvalcaba had returned home to find her rent checks for September and October rolled up and wedged under her doorknob, still in the envelopes in which she had delivered them to her property manager. “You could see [the manager] had opened the envelopes and then just put the checks back inside,” Ruvalcaba told Jacobin. “Of course, I knew that if they’re refusing to accept the rent, they’re getting ready to do something. And sure enough, a week went by and I received the documents from the court.” The summons and complaint specified that she was being evicted for nonpayment of rent.

En marzo de 2021, la industria cinematográfica de Los Ángeles apenas comenzaba a recuperar la vida después de una prolongada caída inducida por el COVID, pero Michael Addis, un cineasta independiente, todavía estaba en lo más profundo del agujero. Durante más de un año había estado acumulando pagarés para su arrendador y la cuenta ascendía a 43,792 dólares.

Entonces Addis recurrió a un programa estatal de emergencia diseñado para ayudar a personas como él a pagar la deuda de alquiler acumulada durante la pandemia. 

Más tarde, en el verano de 2021, el propio gobernador Gavin Newsom promocionó el programa Housing Is Key como el más grande de su tipo en el país. “Estamos muy concentrados en hacer llegar esta asistencia lo más rápido posible “, dijo en ese momento.

Addis recibió respuesta 20 meses después de presentar su solicitud.  

El 5 de junio de 2023, cuando cumplió 61 años, recibió un correo electrónico, que compartió con CalMatters, notificándole que se había aprobado un pago en su totalidad. 

Pero para entonces ya era demasiado tarde.

In March 2021, the Los Angeles film industry was just beginning to roar back to life after a prolonged COVID-induced slump, but Michael Addis, a freelance filmmaker, was still deep in the hole. For more than a year he’d been racking up IOUs to his landlord and the tab stood at $43,792.

So Addis turned to an emergency state program designed to help people like him pay down rental debt accumulated during the pandemic. 

Later, in the summer of 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom himself had touted the program, Housing Is Key, as the largest of its kind in the nation. “We’re laser-focused on getting this assistance out the door as quickly as possible,” he said at the time.

Addis heard back 20 months after he applied.  

On June 5, 2023 — his 61st birthday — he received an email, which he shared with CalMatters, notifying him that a payment had been approved in full. 

But by then it was too late.

RICHMOND, CA - After residents of an affordable apartment community for seniors asked for help reducing a proposed rent increase, the Richmond City Council unanimously voted to send a letter asking the owners to not implement the increase.

Residents in the community of Heritage Park at Hilltop say the proposed 5% rent increase would put them at risk of being unable to afford other necessities and homelessness.

“We want the senior population at Heritage Park to be assured that their concerns are being taken seriously,” the letter, signed by Mayor Eduardo Martinez, says, “and that steps will be taken to not price out seniors who currently reside at Heritage Park.”

The rent increase, if it should go forward, would take effect Dec. 1.

LOS ANGELES, CA - Casi 20 personas se reunieron en los apartamentos Dorset Village y marcharon por todo el complejo de apartamentos y durante un descanso algunos residentes compartieron historias sobre sus difíciles condiciones de vida en una lluviosa tarde el miércoles en el vecindario de Hyde Park en Los Ángeles.

Julema Howard ha alquilado en su apartamento desde 2008 y dice que su alfombra no ha sido reemplazada a pesar de que está desgastada hasta el punto en que las puntadas quedan expuestas.

“Es realmente difícil explicar cómo vivimos aquí. Me siento como si estuviera viviendo en una celda de prisión”, dijo Howard mientras lágrimas caían por su rostro.

(Paywalled) LOS ANGELES, CA — The City Council is expected to vote Tuesday on a proposal meant to limit anticipated rent increases for properties that are subject to the city’s rent-control law.

The proposal was previously delayed during last week’s council meeting by Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez, who wanted more time for his colleagues to consider the idea. The proposal was prompted by the pending Jan. 31, 2024, end of a pandemic-era rent freeze placed on rent-stabilized units.