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!

Investco/Watt tenants stopped a Trump-style scam that would exempt their trillionaire corporate landlord from paying property taxes under the guise of “providing affordable housing.” This tenant organizing recouped $500,000 of revenue for the City of Oakland in 2020 - doing our part to help with the City’s budget crisis!

CONTRA COSTA - ACCE Contra Costa ran a phone bank that contacted many thousands of voters in Contra Costa County that helped elect ACCE organizer, Melvin Willis, Claudia Jimenez and Gayle McLaughlin to the Richmond City Council, Taylor Sims to the Pittsburg School Board, ACCE member, Eduardo Torres to the Ambrose Park and Rec Board and Tamisha Walker to the Antioch City Council! We also helped pass Measure U in Richmond which is a business tax and Measure X, a countywide sales tax. Since the election we have met with all of these elected officials to move ACCE members’ agenda. We are also working closely with our coalition allies to make sure Measure U and Measure X funds are used to fund services our community needs. 

In November 2020, 71-year-old ACCE member Marta Amaya was illegally locked out of her south Los Angeles home after coming home one day from grocery shopping. When she tried to enter through a window, she was struck in the face with the window by an unknown assailant. ACCE-LA emergency responders organized a rally and press conference outside of Ms. Amaya's home on Nov. 11. Responders called LAPD who got the landlord to let Ms. Amaya back inside to retrieve her belongings.

BERKELEY - ACCE Oakland staff members Dominique Walker and Leah Simon-Weisberg led the entire “Housing is a Human Right” Rent Board slate to victory, despite half a million dollars spent to oppose them by the National Association of Realtors.

ACCE Oakland helped to lead a powerful coalition of community, labor, and progressive organizations to oust Lynette “Tenant-Hater” McElhaney and elect our very own Carroll Fife to represent West Oakland (District 3) on the City Council. This same coalition successfully defended the At-Large seat, held by one of our strongest allies on the Council, from a challenger backed by the Brown/Harris/Schaaf political machine to the tune of over $400,000.

ACCE member Barry McCollough's mother, 71-year-old stroke patient Virginia Walker, was illegally locked out of her south Los Angeles home in October 2020, despite the fact that she had been paying rent to the city for her duplex, which was under the Rent Escrow Account Program (REAP). With support from Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson's office and coalition partners, ACCE Los Angeles emergency responders enlisted a locksmith to remove the front door locks from Ms. Walker's home.

OAKLAND - Mosser tenants stopped their corporate landlord from taking investors on a tour that included entering occupied units (during a pandemic!) at 10 different buildings.