Building on ACCE Los Angeles' successful campaign in July 2024 to protect South LA tenants displaced by new housing development, the same renter protections will now be expanded citywide. In December, the LA City Council adopted changes to the city's Resident Protection Ordinance (RPO) that will strengthen protections for all LA residents displaced by developers demolishing older apartment complexes to make way for new development. ACCE collaborated with partners at Movement Legal to draft the changes to the RPO based on the updated South LA Community Plan Implementation Overlay or CPIO. The protections include a right of return to newly developed units for displaced tenants, more generous relocation assistance, a five-year denial of demolition permits to landlords who have been found to harass tenants, and the right to sue landlords who violate tenants' rights. These new protections are a huge step toward curbing the rapid gentrification of historically low-income communities and communities of color.

ACCE members helped achieve a significant victory through their advocacy at Oakland City Hall, securing important amendments to strengthen tenant protections in the city's Rent Adjustment and Just Cause for Eviction Ordinances. The approved changes, effective December 17, 2024, include several key reforms that enhance accountability for property owners and expand tenant rights. Most notably, the legislation reduces the "banking" period for rent increases from ten to five years and prevents new property owners from using banked increases after property transfers (except in specific inheritance cases). The reforms also create stronger enforcement mechanisms by prohibiting both rent increases and no-fault evictions when property owners are delinquent on their business taxes, requiring proof of current business tax compliance with rent increase notices, and doubling the time tenants have to challenge unlawful rent increases from 90 to 180 days.

These changes represent a substantial win for tenant rights, establishing stronger oversight of property owners and limiting their ability to accumulate and implement delayed rent increases. The reforms particularly target the practice of "banking" rent increases and create new protections against evictions, while also ensuring better transparency through expanded notice requirements and language accessibility in multiple languages including English, Spanish, and Chinese.

RICHMOND, CA- On December 17th 2024, the Richmond City Council passed a pivotal ordinance to overhaul the city’s housing code enforcement system. After two years of relentless organizing and campaigning led by local residents and members of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and important legal support from California Center for Movement Legal Services (Movement Legal), the ordinance is set to transform how Richmond ensures safe and habitable housing for all tenants.

The newly adopted ordinance mandates routine inspections of all residential units every three years, eliminates the current flawed self-certification program for large buildings, and strengthens oversight of housing conditions citywide. These changes close longstanding gaps in Richmond’s current complaint-based system, which left tenants in unsafe housing and afraid to report violations due to fear of retaliation.

Richmond will now adopt an updated Code Enforcement Program that holds landlords accountable for deplorable living conditions and ensures no tenant is forced to live in uninhabitable housing.

In a process that was four years in the making, 11 programs created with the passage of Measure ULA's mansion tax are now moving on to full implementation! On Dec. 10, 2024, the LA City Council passed program guidelines in a 12-0 vote, inspired by the United to House LA coalition's vision of social housing, good union jobs, a tenant right to counsel, income support for low-income seniors, homeownership programs, and protections against tenant harassment. These programs will now be made possible with a total of $318 million in ULA dollars raised across two years. LA tenants are now another step forward toward gaining housing that is more secure, affordable and healthy!

The LA County Board of Supervisors voted to approve lowering annual rent increases from 4% to 3% on most rent-controlled units in unincorporated parts of the county. The change, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2025, exempts small landlords (those owning 10 or fewer units) as well as landlords of luxury units. This change to the rent cap will provide much needed relief for LA County tenants already struggling to pay for basic necessities. ACCE leaders are now working hard to bring the same relief to LA City renters. 

In another huge victory for LA tenants, the Los Angeles City Council on Oct. 30 approved major changes to the city's Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance (TAHO), three years after the law's initial passage. The new TAHO changes will provide stronger protection for tenants against abusive landlords by providing enforcement mechanisms and legal remedies. This marks the culmination of the TAHO 2.0 campaign, launched in 2022 by ACCE Los Angeles leaders, and later joined by our Keep LA Housed (KLAH) coalition partners.

When TAHO went into effect in 2021, the law's weakness was immediately apparent because no funds had been allocated for enforcement. Organizers and attorneys continued to report cases of rampant intimidation, unlawful eviction notices, threats of physical harm, unlawful lockouts, refusal to make necessary repairs, unilateral reductions in key rental amenities, and abuse of a landlord’s right to enter a tenant’s home. Soon, TAHO 2.0 campaign was born. 

TAHO 2.0 demanded several amendments to the ordinance including:

• ensuring landlords are fined for each violation
• triple damages when landlords willfully engage in harassment
• requiring landlords to pay attorneys fees to tenants who win their case
• remedies for tenants, such as emotional damages

ACCE and KLAH members worked tirelessly to turn out for public comment at City Hall, made phone calls and lobby visits to council members, and held media events to highlight impacted tenant stories to the press and public. This hard work resulted in a City Council vote of 11-0 in favor of passage, with all the amendments ACCE and KLAH asked for. The strengthened TAHO will become law at the end of 2024. Tenants in LA will now start off the New Year 2025 in a stronger position to fight back against landlords who violate their rights!

RICHMOND, CA- On October 22nd, the Richmond City Council voted to support  a historic Project Labor Agreement (PLA) for the nation’s leading Richmond Clean Energy and Healthy Homes Project. The Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Action (ACCE Action) and community allies have tirelessly organized and advocated for the City of Richmond to deliver on equitable clean energy solutions that uplift Richmond’s low-income Black and Brown residents.

This vote paves the way for the first-ever PLA for a neighborhood-scale residential decarbonization project in a low-income community, establishing Richmond as a national leader in advancing equitable clean energy solutions. The PLA will prioritize local hiring, allowing working-class communities of color to benefit directly from the economic and environmental gains of the City’s green investments.

The City of Richmond now becomes a national leader in advancing justice-centered neighborhood decarbonization projects that will improve the health and well-being of thousands of community members.

All residents of Imperial Beach RV parks are now protected from being forced to move and re-register as tenants every six months, thanks to a new law introduced by Asm. David Alvarez and signed by Gov. Newsom. Owners of RV parks used this rule in order to evade state tenant protections that activate after a tenant is a resident for nine months. Tenants at the Siesta RV Park had organized with ACCE San Diego for three years against their landlord, Miramar Imperial Beach LLC, for enforcing the six-month rule until the City finally ended the rule at the park in 2022. The law, AB 1472, expands the six-month ban citywide. Congratulations to the Siesta Park tenants and all Imperial Beach RV park tenants for this hard-fought win!