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.