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.