SACRAMENTO, CA - The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed that county government was failing to keep renters safe from harassment before four out of five of the elected officials declined to vote Tuesday on a proposed tenant anti-harassment ordinance, ensuring the measure would die.

The board decided to put on a future workshop about tenant protection resources in the county.

Supervisor Patrick Kennedy, who proposed the ordinance, said he was inspired to do so after visiting a large apartment complex and seeing the mostly immigrant tenants paying “upwards of $2,000 a month to live in squalor.” While he was at the complex meeting with his constituents, he said, “I witnessed, myself, harassment.”

SACRAMENTO, CA - The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday declined to move forward with a proposal aiming to strengthen renters’ protections from harassment by landlords.

The decision came about a month after a similar tenant anti-harassment ordinance failed to get enough support from a Sacramento City Council committee.

If passed, the proposal would create county rules prohibiting landlords from threatening tenants with physical harm, refusing to accept rent payments, removing housing services to try to cause tenants to move and retaliating against renters for asserting their rights under the ordinance.

David versus Goliath might be a stretch. In one corner is the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), a progressive activist group. In the other is the California Apartment Association (CAA), a property owner organization. ACCE is alleging the CAA is blocking local and statewide solutions to the housing crisis, e.g., tenant protection policies and eviction moratoriums.

ACCE recently released a report titled “From Housing Providers to Drivers of Homelessness: How the California Apartment Association’s Wall Street leadership spent at least $233 million to block housing solutions.”

Here are this report’s highlights.

LOS ANGELES, CA - Tenant rights groups have been sounding the alarm about an impending post-pandemic eviction crisis. In Los Angeles, that day has come — putting hundreds of thousands of tenants at risk of losing their housing and compelling some to fight back.

LOS ANGELES, CA - The Los Angeles City Council passed a $150-million spending plan for funds raised by Measure ULA on Tuesday, marking the first time funds will be specifically allocated since Angelenos passed the tax in November.

The expenditure plan will be directed to six programs: short-term emergency rental assistance, eviction defense, tenant outreach and education, direct cash assistance for low-income seniors and people with disabilities, tenant protections, and affordable housing production.

“This is the largest source of revenue, that’s going to be consistent, that this city has access to for these uses ever,” said Councilmember Nithya Raman. “It’s really transformative for Los Angeles.”

ANTIOCH, CA - In yet another move to strengthen tenant protections, the Antioch City Council has approved new rules to help ensure against landlord retaliation and harassment.

The new rules will address landlord threats of rent increases when tenants request repairs, improper landlord towing of vehicles, landlord verbal abuse and psychological harm, while protecting tenants’ rights to organize and requiring notices from the landlord be given in a tenant’s spoken language, City Attorney Thomas Lloyd Smith said.

The action comes after more than a year of tenants and supporters advocating for help.

The council approved a similar ordinance in July. However, that version did not get the votes needed for a second reading to pass, with Councilwoman Monica Wilson absent, Councilman Mike Barbanica recusing himself and Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock dissenting.

On Tuesday, though, after hearing more than two hours of public comments and discussion, the City Council voted 3-1 to approve the latest version of rules, with Ogorchock dissenting and Barbanica again recusing himself due to his real estate work.

OAKLAND, CA - Oakland’s 2024 election is over a year from now, but candidates have already started to emerge in several important races. As of this week, candidates have filed papers or declared their intention to run for City Attorney and two City Council seats.

Up for grabs next year are the District 1, 3, 5, 7, and At-Large City Council seats and City Attorney. (Four school board seats are also in play and we’ll cover those in another post.)

The Oaklandside has compiled a brief round-up of these early announcements, and we’ll provide much more coverage as the campaign season kicks into full gear next year. Do you know of a candidate or something else we left out? Let us know and we’ll update this post.

SACRAMENTO, CA - A proposal to create more housing in Sacramento must succeed if the city ever hopes to solve the pervasive issues of homelessness that daily affects every resident — yet it may be two votes short of passing at the full city council.

The Sacramento Forward proposal would put a fundraising measure on the 2024 ballot, extend the Tenant Protection Program, implement support programs such as emergency rent assistance and increase developer fees. Among other housing and tenant protection goals, it would also adopt the Sacramento Opportunity to Purchase Act, which would require any tenant building listed for sale to be sold to the tenant or eligible community group if they can meet the initial listing price.

The proposal is already supported by the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council, the Sacramento Community Land Trust, the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment and SEIU 1021, and it recently gained the support of City Councilmembers Caity Maple, Katie Valenzuela and Mayor Pro Tem Mai Vang at last Tuesday’s Law and Legislation Committee meeting.