Reyna Aguilar was working as a chef in a restaurant in San Francisco’s Mission neighbourhood when the COVID pandemic struck. The restaurant shut within months, leaving Aguilar worrying about how she would make rent on the studio apartment she had lived in for nearly a decade.

When the government announced it would give rent vouchers, Aguilar, who wears her hair in a loose knot, felt relieved. But her landlord asked for cash instead.

SACRAMENTO, CA – Six people, including unhoused and “struggling renters,” were arrested here late Thursday at State Legislative offices after a Capitol rally urged public officials, lawmakers and the governor to work toward affordable housing instead of homeless encampment sweeps.

The rally began at the West Side of the Capitol and then continued to the State Legislative offices. 

The California Highway Patrol said people were arrested for misdemeanors, including unlawful assembly, refusing to obey an order and being on state property after hours. Status of those arrested is not known at this time, but those arrested at the Capitol are normally booked in Sacramento County Jail and released within a few hours with a scheduled court date.

Those rallying and arrested, according to a statement issued by a large coalition of supporting groups, demanded “Governor Newsom fund affordable housing at scale, fulfill his promise of building one million affordable homes by 2030, and stop the encampment sweeps that merely move people from one corner to another while causing trauma and harm."

During a massive rally set for Saturday in downtown Los Angeles, thousands from community groups and labor unions will march to demand actions regarding rising rents by advocating for affordable housing, rent control and wage increases for blue-collar workers.

One of the more concrete ideas emanating from the 120 different organizations participating is for the City of Los Angeles to buy up and turn into affordable housing the vacant, half-finished Oceanwide Plaza towers, given the moniker “Graffiti Towers” after the buildings were marred by taggers in February.

The luxury apartment complex was left unfinished in 2019 after a Chinese investor went bankrupt.

Officers arrested six people participating in a peaceful sit-in demonstration on housing and homelessness Thursday inside the lobby of a California legislative office building in downtown Sacramento.

The demonstration was held inside the lobby of the Capitol Swing Space building on O Street. Offices for state lawmakers and the governor are located in the building.

Members of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment and Camp Resolution in Sacramento participated in Thursday’s demonstration. The protesters demanded that Newsom fund affordable housing at scale, fulfill his promise of building one million affordable homes by 2030 and stop the homeless encampment sweeps “that merely move people from corner to another while causing trauma and harm,” according to a news release from the two groups.

California limits rent increases to 10% a year for tenants living in apartments built before 1995.

But a law known as Costa-Hawkins prevents cities and counties from passing further rent control, like for newer buildings, single-family homes or new tenants.

The Justice for Renters Act, Proposition 33, would repeal that law, allowing cities and counties to create local rent control laws for any housing.

Jose Lopez, who leads the San Diego Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, said passing rent control “matters a whole lot.”

“Especially for the thousands of Californians who are really one rent increase away from having to move out of their homes,” he said.

In a bustling hallway on the sixth floor of a downtown courthouse, Alcira Ayala sat on a bench with her husband and daughter, anxiously waiting for her eviction case to be called. She held a black cloth bag filled with neatly organized records that she hoped would help her win her case and stay in the apartment that she and her family have lived in for nearly two decades.

Since learning this summer that her landlord wanted to evict them, Ayala had spent days calling and showing up at the offices of local nonprofit groups to ask for help.

She had hoped to get a free lawyer, but quickly learned that there aren’t enough in the city to represent everyone who needs help. To try to defend herself, she went to the L.A. Law Library to ask for guidance filing the legally required response to the notice. Then, she attended hours of online training hosted by the nonprofit Eviction Defense Network, which teaches tenants without lawyers how to prepare for court.

Dozens of people gathered at the Antioch-Pittsburg Amtrak station Saturday to protest its planned closure.

"The train is a big deal for me and my family. We like to take the train just to go up to Sacramento, sometimes to Fresno," said Antioch resident Monique McCoy, who read a poem at the rally on Saturday. "The message is just, put yourself in our shoes. If you couldn't get to work and take the train to work, maybe to Sacramento or the surrounding area, how would that affect you and your family?"

Many people at the rally Sunday live in Antioch, but some attendees took the train to Antioch from Richmond and Oakland to attend. After the rally, they all joined in on a walking tour of nearby destinations around Antioch. Residents toured the El Campanil Theater and the Royal Banquet and Event Hall.

Attendees told NBC Bay Area they use the train to go to work, to get to doctor appointments, and even to see their family members.

"The train has been very, very strategically important, especially since I've had an injury, and I can't sit too long in the car, so on the train, you can get up, walk around, get something to eat," said Contra Costa County resident Eddie Gums who often rides the train to attend public meetings.

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.”