Eviction

Santa Rosa, CA—Last night the campaign to repeal Santa Rosa rent control, which was passed by Santa Rosa City Council in 2016, defeated the grassroots ballot initiative “Measure C” to defend rent control. In the same night, the Alameda City Council approved the addition of a just cause for eviction policy, a major win for tenants. Now landlords in Alameda have to cite a fair reason to evict tenants. The win in Alameda highlights the resilience of tenant activists and will inspire other cities in the midst of rent control campaigns.

Owner move-in evictions are increasing in Berkeley for renters of single family houses and duplexes, largely a result of skyrocketing rents and home prices both in the city and throughout the Bay Area.

Joann Nieves spent the first week after her eviction sleeping in her Chevy pickup with her three young sons.

“It was kind of uncomfortable,” said Jacob, 11, her oldest.

To her youngest, 6-year-old Anthony, “it was scary.”

Things have improved since then. Nieves, 36, now sleeps on an air mattress on the living room floor of her boyfriend’s mom’s house in Santa Ana, while her sons share a bed in one of the bedrooms.

Each morning, she drives her sons to Anaheim so they can stay in the same school, then stops off on her way home to check out apartments for rent.

Santa Rosa voters face a decision on whether to adopt rent control in Sonoma County's largest city. Here are answers to some of the most frequent questions about Measure C.

Who would be affected by Santa Rosa’s rent control law?

Anyone living in an apartment built before Feb. 1, 1995, would be covered by rent control and just-cause eviction rules. People who rent single-family homes, duplexes or owner-occupied triplexes would not be covered.

How many people is that?

Welcome to another episode of the top-rated game show, “Who Can Really Afford to Rent in the Bay Area?” I’m your host, It Beats the Heck Out of Me.

On the last episode, the audience got to play the role of a distressed renter attempting to survive while living in poor conditions and working for low wages.

On today’s episode, the audience gets to play the role of a distressed renter attempting to survive in a city where a landlord will brazenly demolish your apartment before you can move out.

The city of Los Angeles has lost 21,200 rent- stabilized housing units since 2001, according to an interactive map released Monday by a nonprofit tenant advocacy group.

The Coalition for Economic Survival produced the map in conjunction with the San Francisco-based Anti-Eviction Mapping Project to show where units have been lost through Ellis Act evictions that allow landlords to exit the rental market under certain conditions.

The largest private landlord in Oakland began his trial on Monday, both inside and out of federal court on Clay Street.

As Michael Marr walked into court on the day jury selection commenced in the government’s case accusing him of rigging foreclosure auctions, he was greeted by his angry East Oakland tenants, who say the trial only tells part of his misdeeds.

Marr, who owns more than 300 properties, mostly in Oakland’s flatlands, is one of four men accused of working together to suppress the prices of bids on foreclosed homes at courthouse auctions.