Affordable housing

Tenants Together is proud to stand in solidarity with UC academic workers on strike. As a coalition of tenant organizations mobilizing for better conditions for renters, we find common cause with workers organizing against any employer that fails to treat them with dignity, respect, and sufficient wages and benefits. As a public university, UC must sign a fair contract and pay living wages for the workers who are educating our communities. As Californians, our tax dollars should be spent on the public good. That can only happen under fair working conditions.

With ballots arriving in the mail as we speak, Tenants Together is happy to share our statewide coalition's endorsements of eight local pro-renter ballot measures, up for a vote on November 8th. Housing instability often means that renters vote less often than homeowners. It's very important to make your voice heard if you're eligible to vote! (If you haven't registered to vote, or have had to move since your last registration, you can register here.)

Tenants Together's statewide membership is proud to support:

At Gov. Gavin Newsom’s request, California filed a lawsuit Friday against the city of Huntington Beach over what state officials describe as the city’s failure to allow enough homebuilding to accommodate a growing population.

Newsom said the suit is needed to address rising housing costs that threaten economic growth and deepen inequality. The lawsuit accuses Huntington Beach of defying a state law that requires cities and counties to set aside sufficient land for housing development.

As the partial federal government shutdown stretches into its sixth week, low-income families, seniors and the disabled are facing housing instability and possible evictions.

Last month, Congress failed to provide funding for key federal agencies, including the departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and of Agriculture, which provide housing assistance to low-income families.

The shutdown is affecting not just unpaid federal workers, but also 4.7 million families living in federally subsidized housing, housing advocates say.

Hundreds of local renters are getting nervous after finding out their federal housing subsidies have expired in the wake of the government shutdown.

After three decades working as a legal secretary, Sandra Anderson retired but couldn't afford to live in San Diego. Fourteen years ago, she moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Columbia Tower downtown, which gets subsidies directly from the Department of Housing and Urban Development or HUD.

"I love it! I couldn't afford to live anywhere else," said Anderson.

The Committee to House the Bay Area (CASA) process has come to a close. The proposal will now move forward through the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), and the state legislature. The policies that come out of this process will impact housing, development, and displacement in the whole Bay Area and perhaps even the state.

CHARLINE LAKE has not unpacked her boxes.

It has been more than a year since she moved to Arlington after her apartment building in Somerville’s Davis Square was sold. The new owner forced the tenants out by doubling the rent, harassing them with unannounced construction and utility shut-offs, and, finally, by serving no-fault eviction notices to the holdouts.