El programa de protección contra el desalojo de California, calificado como incompleto y defectuoso, venció este viernes primero de julio.

Ante esto, activistas señalan que debido a que el programa de alivio de alquiler vencido no puede proporcionar fondos para cubrir el alquiler atrasado desde marzo, al menos un millón de inquilinos de California enfrentan un futuro profundamente incierto y el potencial de desalojo y falta de vivienda.

Following weeks of inspections, Los Angeles County officials have identified numerous health hazards in a sprawling South L.A. apartment complex owned by mega-landlord Mike Nijjar.

Tenants at the Chesapeake Apartments have long complained about pests, mold and sewage leaking into their homes. Now, the county’s Department of Public Health (DPH) has substantiated their complaints.

Un día de abril, Lenora Jackson volvió a casa de su empleo como trabajadora del Estado en South Oak Park y se encontró con el administrador de la propiedad en la puerta de su casa, pidiéndole las llaves.

Estaba tratando de desalojarla por una infestación de chinches. Temía que perder su casa, la cual rentaba desde 2017, la obligara a quedarse sin hogar y a vivir en su camioneta.

“Da miedo porque tengo muchos problemas médicos”, dijo Jackson, de 55 años. “No tendría a dónde ir”.

SACRAMENTO — A limited three-month extension to California’s eviction moratorium is scheduled to expire on Thursday at midnight, despite opposition from tenant advocates who say the state still hasn’t done enough to keep renters housed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lawmakers in March moved the eviction moratorium’s expiration date from April 1 to July 1 for California tenants who’d applied for the state’s rent relief program by the end of March. That extension also afforded the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development more time to work through a backlog of applications and disburse payments to thousands of renters who still hadn’t received aid.

Lenora Jackson came home in South Oak Park from her job as a state worker one day in April to find her property manager standing outside her house, asking for her keys.

He was trying to evict her because of a bed bug infestation. She feared that losing her home, where she has rented since 2017, would force her into homelessness and to live in her pick-up truck.

“It’s scary because I have a lot of medical problems,” said Jackson, 55. “I would have nowhere to go.”

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Rent relief eviction protections in California are set to expire.

But, more than 85,000 renters are still waiting for their rental assistance applications to be reviewed. 

Community-based organizations, including the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, are taking action to protect tenants.

At a press conference Tuesday morning, renters shared their experiences throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Several speakers said they are still waiting on rent relief from California's Emergency Rental Assistance Program and now face eviction.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California rent relief eviction protections expire at the end of June, potentially negatively affecting the tens of thousands who are still waiting on a response or money from the state’s COVID-19 emergency rental assistance program.

Dozens of tenants tell KTVU they fear losing their home, despite applying, meeting income eligibility, submitting necessary documents, and waiting months for approval of relief payments from the state.

"I’m pretty sure I’m going to be out on the streets," Los Angeles renter Mario Martinez said. "The landlord has been more than patient and working with me through all of this and I just keep telling him to hold on, it’s coming."

Pese a que miles de inquilinos aún están a la espera de una respuesta a su solicitud de alivio para pagar sus rentas atrasadas, el 30 de junio terminarán las protecciones contra los desalojos de familias que han aplicado para el programa de asistencia de alquiler de emergencia de California (ERAP).

Es por eso que a dos días de que se venza la fecha límite de las protecciones que evitan los desalojos, hicieron un llamado urgente a los líderes electos del estado para que aprueben protecciones permanentes que frenen la creciente crisis de vivienda que impacta a las comunidades de color y a los trabajadores pobres.

Eviction protections that California lawmakers put in place at the beginning of the pandemic, and extended several times since then, are about to expire.

On Tuesday, a group of community-based organizations held a Zoom news conference meant to highlight what they said will be a catastrophe for tens of thousands of people in just a few days.

More than $3.5 billion in rent relief payments have gone out since the protections began. But barring any last-minute action from the state (the protection goes away on July 1) leaves people like Imperial Beach resident Patricia Mendoza in a slow building state of panic.

ANTIOCH — With the state’s last remaining COVID-eviction protections set to expire next week, dozens of renters rallied Wednesday demanding protection against steep rent hikes, landlord harassment and poor living conditions.

Waving signs that read “Housing is a human right” and “The rent is too damn high,” residents complained of roach and mold-infested apartments, sewage flooding their bathrooms and out-of-the-blue rent hikes of hundreds of dollars.

Many of the complaints centered on Delta Pines — a low-income apartment complex in Antioch with nearly 200 units. But the issues extend throughout Antioch and the entire Bay Area, tenants’ rights organizers say. A survey of 1,000 Antioch renters released this month found that respondents spend, on average, 63% of their income on rent — making it difficult to pay for food, medicine, childcare and other expenses.

IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. (KGTV) — Wednesday, dozens of RV tenants in Imperial Beach rallied against what they say are unfair rent increases and evictions from their new landlord at the Siesta RV Park.

Some of the tenants are part of the San Diego Chapter of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE).

In front of the RV Park, people chanted phrases like "Yes, we can" in Spanish and "Fight, fight, fight. Housing is a human right." Some held a large banner that read "STOP ALL EVICTIONS."

One by one, tenants spoke about their experience living at the RV park. "As a senior and a disabled veteran, I should not have to be worrying about not being able to afford my rent," one man said.

Antioch, CA – Advocates held a rally on June 22, 2022, to demand safe and affordable housing and an immediate stop to exorbitant rent increases. Low-income tenants at Delta Pines Apartments and Casa Blanca Apartments, two government-subsidized affordable housing buildings, are facing potential displacement after their corporate landlord recently raised monthly rents by as much as $500.

Before the rally, participants gathered in the Lowe’s parking lot at nearby 1951 Auto Center Drive where they marched to Delta Pines Apartments while holding signs and chanting.

Residents of Delta Pines and Case Blanca aren’t alone in facing sudden rent increases. A new survey of Antioch residents released today finds rent hikes and housing instability are widespread across the city.  Seventy-nine percent of renters report feeling worried about rent increases, while 68 percent worried about being able to pay their current rent.

Antioch – Advocates will hold a rally on at noon on Wednesday, June 22, at Delta Pines Apartments, 2301 Sycamore Drive, to demand safe and affordable housing and an immediate stop to what critics call 'exorbitant' rent increases Low-income tenants at Delta Pines Apartments and Casa Blanca Apartments, two government-subsidized affordable housing buildings, are facing potential displacement after their corporate landlord recently raised monthly rents by as much as $500.

Before the rally, an expected up to 50 participants will gather in the Lowe’s parking lot at nearby 1951 Auto Center Drive at 11:45 a.m., then walk to Delta Pines Apartments while holding signs and chanting. Residents of Delta Pines, Casa Blanca, and residents with ECRG will speak about their first-hand experiences with unaffordable rents, fears of eviction, and alleged landlord harassment.

(KRON) – Contra Costa County has seen a 35% increase in homelessness since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it’s impacting families. 

Kamilah Miller, 43, is a resident of Antioch and a working mother of nine. Together she and her husband opened two small businesses a few years ago to support their family. Kamilah Cares is one of their businesses, a child care center. They also had an event-planning business until 2020. Miller even got an associate’s degree in child development, “because I knew that just working a regular job would not be enough to pay rent,” she said.

Four years ago Miller and her four kids were evicted from their home and forced to live in a hotel shortly after her mother passed away, adding an incredible amount of pain to an already suffering family. Miller says the only way they were able to afford the hotel is with the profits from her husband’s event-planning business.

Organizers from the South Central local of the Los Angeles Tenants Union were descending on Exposition Park, their arms full of tablets, laptops and smartphones. It was the evening of April 13, 2021, and as senior and immigrant tenants watched on, the young volunteers connected the park to the internet via a Wi-Fi hotspot. Then the tenants did what they couldn’t do at home: They applied for pandemic rent relief from the state of California.

When low income tenants faced eviction across the state, the primary way to stave it off was through online application to the state’s Emergency Renters Assistance Program (ERAP), which was charged with distributing more than $2.6 billion in rent relief to tenants with additional funds distributed by cities and counties. However, tenant organizers say the program was never going to succeed as it was structured, in large part because applying for relief was only possible with an internet connection and an email address, blocking thousands of the most vulnerable renters in California from paying back their debts.

Hundreds of Chesapeake residents, angry at ongoing maintenance problems at the 425-unit building, have finally won a building-wide inspection, which will take approximately six weeks.  

On June 6, the Los Angeles County Health Department and Los Angeles City Code Enforcement began conducting the inspection of the Chesapeake Apartment complex, located on Obama Blvd. in the Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw area.  

At the same time, tenants and members of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment-Los Angeles (ACCE) held a press conference to call attention to the extensive maintenance problems at the building, and owner Pama V Properties president Mike Nijjar’s continued failure at properly addressing them.

California tenants have filed a lawsuit against the agency that runs the state’s COVID-19 emergency rent relief program, saying it “disproportionately harms tenants on the basis of race, color, and national origin.”

Tenant rights organizations Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment and Strategic Actions for a Just Economy announced Monday they joined with research institute PolicyLink to sue the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), which administers the rental assistance program.

The groups claim the program has denied funding to hundreds of thousands of tenants without specific reasons or adequate opportunities to appeal. HCD has also made it more challenging for non-English-speaking tenants to communicate with program officials, the lawsuit said.

ANTIOCH – The state has been slow to pay the rental assistance it promised to tenants and landlords during the pandemic. Now thousands of Californians, including here in the Bay Area, are threatened with eviction in spite of the program that was supposed to prevent it. 

A year ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom proudly announced a program to completely reimburse landlords for the unpaid rent people owed during the pandemic.

"100 percent of your back rent, taken care of," he said at the time.

So, a lot of tenants and landlords scrambled to apply for the program, which was set to end on March 31. Kamilah Miller was one of them.

"I submitted my paperwork March 10th. I haven't heard a peep," said Miller.  "I even called just to say, hey, just want to make sure everything's in there.  And they're, like, 'It's in there.'  And that's it..."

Oakland officials on Tuesday evening capped rent increases at 3% for rent-controlled apartments, effectively preventing landlords from raising rents by 6.7% starting in July, which had been on track to be one of the highest one-year rent increases in the city’s history.

The City Council voted 6-1 for an ordinance to restrain the rent increase, with Noel Gallo voting against the proposal and Loren Taylor abstaining.

The move came amid strong support from tenants’ rights advocates who said a massive rent increase could have a catastrophic impact on a city grappling with a rising homelessness crisis as many residents try to emerge from the pandemic downturn.

OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) — Oakland city leaders have voted in favor of tenants, preventing a major rent hike for people living in protected units as the end of an eviction moratorium looms.

Renters and tenant representatives spoke for hours to the City Council on Tuesday, protesting the biggest citywide rent hike for controlled units ever — and the largest seen amid the Bay Area’s housing crisis. The Council responded with a 6–1 vote to lower a cap on price increases for rent-controlled units, that can take place July 1.

The Council will conduct a second reading of the proposal and a final vote on it in its next meeting.

Problems with mold and vermin, broken tubs and showers and other slum-like conditions continue to mount at a massive South Los Angeles apartment complex even as politicians, housing and public health officials are pledging to hold the landlord accountable.

City and county inspectors are planning to reassess all 425 units at Chesapeake Apartments in early June, following a Times story in April that revealed widespread tenant complaints and public health violations, including leaking sewage and gas and electrical failures.

“It’s not acceptable,” said Robert Galardi, the chief inspector at the city housing department. “The building is in need of some major renovations.”