News and Views
A recent decision by a federal court against Goleta's mobilehome rent control ordinance, could leave the City owing millions to the park owners, but not before the city fights back.
October 8, 2009
Motivated by the desire to build a more powerful grassroots force for justice, two Tenants Together member organizations have decided to merge into one "bigger, fiercer organization."
October 7, 2009
One of San Francisco's largest and most notorious landlords and the many shell corporations under his control have been withholding money from their tenants, the banks that financed their rapid real estate acquisitions, and even San Francisco's public treasury.
October 7, 2009
Rising unemployment is driving an increased rental vacancy rate. With unemployment at 9.8% -- a 26-year high -- more would-be renters are doubling up or moving in with family and friends during periods of job loss.
October 7, 2009
Aiming to foster better relations between the owners of Escondido's 23 mobile-home parks and the roughly 7,000 residents living in those parks, the City Council adopted a new policy Wednesday that strongly urges park owners to meet with residents before raising rents.
October 6, 2009
This post looks at the practice of predatory equity and why it's a "bad scene" for tenants caught in the schemes.
October 6, 2009
The U.S. apartment market in the third quarter turned in one of its weakest performances ever as the national vacancy rate hit a 23-year high. California, saw significant rent declines but they did not register effective rent declines of over 2 percent as they did in the second quarter.
October 6, 2009
More than half of the 20 most expensive cities for housing are in California, according to a report released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau.
October 6, 2009
A landlord-tenant battle came to a close recently when the owners and former residents of Lincoln Place in Venice reached a settlement that not only preserves a group of historic buildings from demolition but allows renters to return to their one-time home.
October 6, 2009
Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara)addressed a group of Chino mobile home park residents about his bill AB 566 that would help mobile home park residents fight conversions. The bill has passed both houses of the legislature and awaits the Governor's signature.
October 6, 2009
At a meeting of the Marin County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, tenants and advocates spoke out against policies that would make it easier to evict tenants from public housing or force them to move to smaller units.
October 5, 2009
Under a new project in San Francisco, tenants from 220,000-odd apartment units in San Francisco will now participate in mandatory recycling efforts.
October 5, 2009
Investors like Page Mill Properties in East Palo Alto who have huge plans of rehabilitating buildings and then raising rents are surprised to discover that they cannot just raise their rents without running into fierce opposition from the community.
October 3, 2009
Mobile home residents facing spiraling rent increases in Valinda are calling for stabilized rents.
October 3, 2009
Tenants speaking out against a redevelopment project say they would prefer more assertive code enforcement to redevelopment work that could force them to move.
October 2, 2009
Wells Fargo Bank confirmed Thursday that it has filed notices of default on all of Page Mill Properties' East Palo Alto holdings, potentially putting about 1,800 rental units on the road to foreclosure.
October 1, 2009
Remember Jay S. Bybee, one of the torture memo authors, rewarded by George W. Bush with a lifetime federal appeals court appointment? The NY Times called for his impeachment earlier this year, noting: "These memos make it clear that Mr. Bybee is unfit for a job that requires legal judgment and a respect for the Constitution."
In a 2-1 decision on Monday, a three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled a Goleta mobile home park rent-control ordinance to be unconstitutional.
October 1, 2009
A West Hollywood attorney and former-city council member laments the impending demolition of a rent-controlled apartment building and what he considers to be West Hollywood's waning commitment to tenant rights and affordable housing.
September 30, 2009
According to a class action suit in Alameda County Court, the California Department of Transportation and City of Hayward refuse to help renters of affordable housing relocate from the "excess residential land" that CalTrans is selling off. The plans to sell the land will displace more than 400 renters according to the complaint.