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.

LOS ANGELES, CA - The Los Angeles City Council is expected to vote on 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.

LOS ANGELES, CA — The City Council Tuesday is expected to vote 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.

ANTIOCH, Calif. (KGO) -- Newly obtained police reports document use of force incidents by Antioch Police, in which senior-level officers signed off on what a federal indictment later deemed to be "excessive."

"You shouldn't feel like the police are a gang. I mean, we are supposed to be afraid of street gangs, but are afraid of the police. It makes no sense," said Nicole Arrington, a community organizer with the Alliance of Californians for Community Engagement, or ACCE.

ANTIOCH, CA — Multiple community organizers are calling for the city’s acting police chief and the president of its police officers’ union to step down amid revelations that they and other police supervisors signed off on the use of force by police officers who are now charged with federal civil rights violations.

The latest demands for the Antioch Police Department to clean house follow a Bay Area News Group report that found acting police Chief Joseph Vigil, Sgt. Rick Hoffman — the president of the Antioch Police Officers Association — and others concluded time and again that the actions of the charged officers followed department guidelines and deserved no discipline. The FBI, in a criminal indictment of three officers, found that some of the uses of force violated departmental policies — as well as people’s civil rights.

SAN PABLO, CA - The city of San Pablo is forging ahead on a plan to build a $43 million headquarters and training facility for its police department of 59 officers as residents call for the city to address housing affordability.

Despite the massive scale of the project — costing almost as much as the city expects to bring in this fiscal year — it has drawn little public input, raising questions about the level of civic engagement in the lower-income, majority Latino city of 31,000 people.

ANTIOCH, CA - As inflation last year reached its highest level in 40 years, raising consumer prices on food, gas and even used cars, renters in San Pablo say they’ve felt the squeeze because of a lack of rent control in the city.

This week, they asked the City Council to take up their cause. With hand-painted signs reading “Housing is a human right,” more than 30 people, including families, marched outside City Hall on Monday. Gathering shortly before the council meeting convened inside, they chanted: “La renta, la renta, está muy alta, La renta, la renta, está muy alta!” and “What do we want? Affordable rents. When do we want it? Now!”

CALIFORNIA - Earlier this month, California passed a bill requiring the state to produce a study and recommendations on expanding the state’s social housing sector. Organizers hope it will be the first step in providing de-commodified shelter on a large scale.

SACRAMENTO, CA - Jovana Fajardo helms the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) Action Sacramento division. The grassroots nonprofit is active on many fronts advocating for solutions to the housing crisis.

With chapters statewide, its members actively pursue policies and initiatives that advance economic, racial and social justice for underserved Californians. Fajardo began her political career in immigration reform. From there, she gravitated to affordable housing activism and is now the division’s lead organizer.

Solving Sacramento recently spoke with Fajardo to get her thoughts on the housing crisis and how she sees the role of grassroots community organizations as part of the solution. The interview was conducted by phone and email.

SAN PABLO, CA - The Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Action on Saturday urged San Pablo renters affected by rising rents, and Contra Costa-ACCE members and representatives to make their voice heard at the San Pablo City Council this Monday.

The renters have previously called upon the San Pablo City Council to pass a Rent Control Ordinance, during the “March for Rent Control” rally on Sept. 30, bringing out more than 50 supporters. The march coincided with downtown Los Angeles’ “Wages Are Too Damn Low, Rents Are Too Damn High” mass protest, which brought out hundreds.

SACRAMENTO, CA - When local Sacramento government officials hold public hearings over climate change plans, dozens of residents often show up and share their perspectives.

It isn’t a coincidence that many speakers start public comments by introducing themselves as members or volunteers with activist organizations.

Groups rally people to speak at meetings through a variety of strategies, from building relationships over time to making social media posts. But whether they ask volunteers to comment on environmental, housing or other issues, organizers say they have similar goals: to empower people to participate in local government, share personal testimonies with decision-makers and build movements.

ANTIOCH, CA - Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe held a ceremony and press conference on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023, to sign and celebrate the passing of the City’s anti-tenant harassment and retaliation ordinance.

He was joined by representatives of the organizations which lobbied the council to approve the ordinance which finally passed 3-1 in August, including David Sharples of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) Action and Rhea Laughlin of Rising Juntos, Rev. Millie Phillips of East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE), and Judith Ortiz of Monument Impact, as well as. (See ORDINANCE NO. 2232-C-S PROHIBITING RETALIATION AGAINST AND HARASSMENT OF RESIDENTIAL TENANTS).

LOS ANGELES, CA - This past weekend, tenant advocates, labor unions, workers, and renters from across LA marched in downtown to demand good wages, better employee benefits, and housing security.

Yvonne Wheeler, president of the LA County Federation of Labor (LACFL), was at the march, emphasizing the issues of tenant evictions and increased homelessness. She believes the housing and labor movements are fighting the same battles.

“We're in a homeless pandemic, where working people are collecting paychecks … but they still can't afford to pay the rent, let alone live in the city where they work,” Wheeler says. “And so when we see the inequality … when we see that these tenants are living in deplorable conditions, we know that we have to ally with one another, and fight this fight together. Because we are the community – we're not separate and apart.”

CONTRA COSTA, CA (TIMESTAMP 13:19) : More than 2,300 people are unhoused across Contra Contra county this is according to the latest county statistics, and today students at Los Medanos College in Pittsburg hosted a panel of East Contra Costa county leaders talking about what is being done to tackle issues around housing. 

LOS ANGELES, CA - Cientos de inquilinos, trabajadores, organizadores y miembros de la comunidad marcharon este sábado en el centro de Los Ángeles para protestar por los altos precios del alquiler de la vivienda y los salarios estancados que hacen casi imposible para muchos angelinos que les alcance el dinero.

“Las rentas están muy pinche caras, y los salarios están muy pinche bajos. Exigimos sueldos que alcancen y viviendas accesibles”, dijo María Guadalupe López, quien llegó a Los Ángeles a los cuatro años, es indocumentada y coordinadora de la Campaña Keep LA Housed.

SAN PABLO, CA - Más de 50 residentes de la ciudad de San Pablo salieron a las calles para pedirle a los líderes de la ciudad que aprueben una ordenanza de estabilización de alquileres para que no tengan que enfrentarse a incrementos de rentas que llegan hasta un diez por ciento. 

SAN PABLO, CA - Over 50 residents of San Pablo took to the streets to demand their local City Council pass Rent Control.