Expensive rent prices in Santa Barbara is not breaking news. However, the housing crisis never ceases to be a buzzing topic in the city.
According to the most recent census report, 60% of Santa Barbara residents are renters.
Renters in Alameda secured a victory early Wednesday morning when the City Council voted to protect them from unjustified evictions.
The move came after the council heard from renters who said they fear that they could be put out of their homes at any time amid the Bay Area’s hot real estate market, and from property owners who said they were being treated unfairly and that their rental business could be undermined.
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera has secured a $2.4 million judgment against a woman who his office called a "notorious" landlord who had illegally forced tenants from their rent-controlled homes so that she could charge more money.
When doctors said Beatriz Allen might only have a few weeks left to live, death was not the biggest threat looming over her family. Her landlords had set a deadline of 9 May for her eviction – right around the time that doctors predicted she might die.
The eviction battle gave the 81-year-old San Francisco woman nightmares, and took a toll on her waning health, according to her family. And on 30 April, Allen went to sleep and never woke up.
One week after San Jose leaders approved a new law to stop landlords from ousting renters without cause, city records show nine people found eviction notices on their doors — and advocates say dozens more are at risk.
Now, city lawmakers are considering immediate enforcement of the new policy against no-cause evictions. The City Council on Tuesday will decide whether to adopt an “urgency ordinance” to enact the rules right away — a move supported by Mayor Sam Liccardo, though he voted against the law last month.
The measure appears to have the eight votes needed to pass.
In a resounding victory to renters struggling to survive in Silicon Valley, elected leaders Tuesday agreed to immediately enact protections approved last month that limit landlords’ ability to evict tenants.
That means as of 9:05 p.m. Tuesday, renters in San Jose cannot be evicted unless it’s for one of twelve acceptable reasons, including nonpayment of rent, property damage or criminal activity. The policy is expected to cover 450,000 renters.
Every day, California tenants are evicted for pure profit while landlords don't need to provide any reason for mass evictions and rent hikes. Tenants can follow all the rules and still find themselves out on the street, especially when those tenants are low-income. California State Assembly Bill 2925 could have changed that, but too many legislators put the landlord lobby first.
Last year, the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission selected Bryan Valenzuela as one of two locals to create public art for the new Kings arena. Today, you can witness his sculpture—blown-glass spheres suspended midair—inside the Golden 1 Center. During arena-christening festivities, politicians thanked him and other creative-class denizens for giving Sacramento its artistic soul.
And then, at the end of 2016, his landlord thanked him—with an eviction notice.
For the past two weeks, Javier Delgadillo has been on the go.
In between his full-time job managing a car parts distribution company, his duties as a softball team dad and raising two teenagers, the East Bay native spends much of his spare free time reading the city’s rental housing laws and phoning or fielding calls from tenant advocacy groups, the city and legal organizations so his family can stay in their home.