News and Views
November 12, 2009
Before the financial crisis, real estate investors saw potential profits everywhere. Now their properties purchased in investments schemes known as predatory equity, aren't worth what they sold for, and it's turning into a problem for middle- and working-class renters.
November 12, 2009
The author discusse Mike Miller's new book on the history of Mission Community Organization and how San Francisco's Mission district has impacted city election in it's support for a series of tenant protection measures – from reducing annual rent hikes to expanding rent control in small buildings to strengthening code enforcement to boosting eviction protections.
November 12, 2009
With one in every 156 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in October, California posted the nation's second highest state foreclosure rate for the second month in a row, according to new data released by RealtyTrac.
November 11, 2009
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November 11, 2009
November 10, 2009
The Guardian editors call on San Francisco's mayor to support a law that would expand just cause eviction protections to all the city's renters.
November 9, 2009
San Francisco Supervisor, John Avalos, has proposed a modification to the city's rent control ordinance that will expand just cause eviction protections to all rental units in the city.
November 9, 2009
The author of this essay argues that a recent proposition campaign (Yes on B) in Santa Barbara -- while on the surface may have appeared to have been a "non-ideological issue of good governance" -- was in reality about keeping out more working class renters.
The UN dispatched a Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Raquel Rolnik, on a multi-US city fact-finding mission to determine the impact of the US housing crisis on low- and moderate-income people
November 6, 2009
Mortgage giant Fannie Mae said Thursday that it would throw a lifeline to some people losing their homes to foreclosure by allowing them to lease those properties back for up to a year at market rental rates.
November 6, 2009
A court ruling which has effectively torpedoed the centerpiece of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s sweeping $5 billion plan to increase L.A.’s low-income housing stock means Villaraigosa must overhaul the proposed Mixed-Income Ordinance.
November 5, 2009
Jemele Hill calls out NBA commissioner David Stern for not taking a strong stand against team owner Donald Sterling for the racially discriminatory practices he has shown as a landlord. Sterling was prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Department for discriminating against prospective Hispanic and black tenants and just settled for more than 2.7 million dollars, the largest such settlement in history.
November 5, 2009
The highest unemployment rate since 1983 is prompting tenants to move out of apartments according to a presentation at the Urban Land Institute convention in San Francisco.
November 5, 2009
A tenant activist in southern Oregon who supporters believe was evicted out of retaliation, had her eviction case dismissed by a Jackson County Circuit Court Judge.
November 4, 2009
This article covers the story of CalPERS' involvement in predatory equity schemes, the impact they've had on tenants, and the fact that tenants and advocates are calling on the pension fund to adopt policies that will prevent it from every again involving itself in these devastating schemes.
November 4, 2009
This week, tenant attorney Dave Crow answers a question about landlords accepting checks from subletters and how that affects the lease agreement and he also answers a question about how one tenant on the lease moving out affects the lease agreement.
November 3, 2009
Santa Monica's Ellis Task Force has found that some rental units that were vacated and removed from the rental market, under the Ellis Act, are being illegally rerented.
November 3, 2009
San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos is introducing a just cause eviction law that would extend protection to tenants in buildings built after 1979 who are currently not covered under the city's rent control ordinance.
Los Angeles Clippers owner and real estate mogul Donald T. Sterling has agreed to pay a record $2.725 million to settle allegations that he discriminated against African Americans, Hispanics and families with children at scores of apartment buildings he owns in and around Los Angeles.