In a major victory in the fight for strong tenant protections, the Los Angeles City Council approved a tenant anti-harassment ordinance (TAHO) in June 2021! The law went into effect in August 2021. ACCE-Los Angeles tenant leaders, organizers and coalition allies worked for four years to get this law passed, which makes abusive and retaliatory behavior against tenants illegal. But ACCE isn't done yet. While TAHO is a good first step, ACCE-Los Angeles continues the fight to get the Council to adopt improvements to the law, including making it retroactive, placing the burden of proof on landlords, and requiring payment of attorney's fees and monetary damages to tenants who prevail in court. As part of its political education program, ACCE has created the informational booklet, "The Story of Ms. Dixon," which illustrates the TAHO campaign through one member's journey from harassed tenant to community activist in a movement. The booklet, in English and in Spanish, shows how ordinary people can work together and organize to make change. Illustrations are by Equipo Maíz.

Alongside the Refund Oakland coalition, Oakland ACCE ran a budget campaign that successfully moved about $50M into funding critical community services - including funding workforce development in flatland neighborhoods, investing in city services from litter abatement and park clean up, strengthening violence prevention programs, bolstering non-police mental health support programs, and increasing support for Meals on Wheels service for seniors.

In Richmond ACCE and our allies won a reallocation of more than $7M from the police department into 5 new public safety programs including expanding violence prevention and intervention efforts, bolstering investment into youth employment, increasing services for unhoused residents, creating a non-police mental health crisis response program and addressing racial equities plaguing traffic violations in our city!

SAN DIEGO - More San Diego tenants at risk of eviction will be able to access legal services and counseling thanks to $15 million in funding the Board of Supervisors approved in its budget in June. The funding is part of $650 million in federal stimulus money dedicated to helping San Diegans affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

SAN DIEGO - The San Diego Eviction Prevention Collaborative, a coalition that includes ACCE-San Diego, launched a new outreach and education program designed to help renters at risk of eviction. Housing Help San Diego (HousingHelpSD.org) is a one-stop resource supporting San Diegans struggling to pay rent, stay housed, and understand their housing rights during the COVID-19 pandemic.

After ACCE members organizing and testified in support of a strong tenant anti-harassment policy - sharing their stories of harassment - the Richmond city council overwhelmingly passed the the tenant anti-harassment ordinance on Tuesday, June 29th, by 6-1! This victory comes out of a multi-year effort to win a progressive majority on the Richmond council and the growing tenants rights movement in Contra Costa! 

After over a year of grassroots organizing across the entire state of California to #CancelRent, on Monday, June 28th the California legislature passed AB 832, effectively allowing rent debt for most tenants and landlords to be paid off by the state. All of it. 

A year ago, this was unimaginable. A year ago, we were deep in the throws of a pandemic with no end in sight for an economic or public health recovery. We still have a long way to go, but today’s vote signals a huge victory for renters that have been waiting in fear of being hit with crushing rent debt!

SAN DIEGO - The San Diego County Board of Supervisors on May 4, 2021, passed, on a 3-2 vote, one of the strongest eviction bans in the country. Thirty ACCE members and a dozen allies spoke at the Supervisors meeting in favor of the temporary measure. More than 100 members called in over the two Board meetings held to consider the ban. The new law bans "just cause" evictions except in cases where there are threats to health and safety. Renters also cannot be evicted for non-payment of rent if they have been financially impacted by COVID. The ordinance will last for 60 days after Gov. Newsom lifts the state of emergency in June. This moratorium will give San Diego tenants much needed time to recover from this pandemic and get back on their feet financially without having to worry about suddenly being tossed into homelessness. The ban went into effect on June 3.

RICHMOND - Richmond city council recently passed an “Oakland-style” moratorium on evictions! While Contra Costa has seen over 135 evictions since the pandemic, Alameda county has only had 8. This new moratorium will go a long way to protect renters from unfair evictions during a global pandemic! 

CALIFORNIA - After nearly a year of fighting to cancel rent, the tenants' movement won a major victory with the passage of SB-91—the COVID tenant Relief Bill! SB 91 will forgive the unpaid rent of many, many renters who meet the income criteria for the program. If your landlord participates in the new program, your rent as a tenant will be forgiven by the state. If your landlord does not opt-in, then you as the tenant will be able to apply and receive the 25% of the back rent forgiven. While this is a huge step forward, there are some major loopholes in the program. We will continue the fight until we close the loopholes on the eviction moratoriums and rent forgiveness until all tenants are protected!