Rent control

Today at 4:30pm at City Hall, Concord tenants are gathering with their community to ask the city to pass policy solutions like rent control and just cause in response to rising rents and evictions. Four of the tenant-leaders have been fighting slumlord Steven Pinza for repairs and fair rents, and are now being evicted by Pinza. Tenants Together, California’s statewide organization for renters’ rights, has been assisting the tenants.

Today, Tenants Together, along with a majority of our member organizations, joined a broad coalition of housing rights activists concerned with the Governor's "By-right" development proposal. While we don't disagree with the need to build more housing in California, especially affordable housing, bypassing the community process for development means low-income tenants will get the short end of the stick.

A group of activists seeking a rent-control ordinance and other tenant-protection measures gathered in Ocean Beach on Saturday (June 4), circulating a petition they hope will convince the city council to open a dialogue concerning their grievances.

This year for our annual event we're celebrating our collective work to make new rent control a reality in communities facing rising rents and displacement. This is a true coalition effort so we have a lot of awards to give out this year!

A 45-day moratorium on rent increases of more than 3 percent will take effect in Santa Rosa on June 18 after the City Council formally approved the measure Tuesday on a second vote.

The council initially passed the measure May 10 and confirmed it Tuesday on a 4-3 vote, a split that reflects the sharp divisions in the community over the wisdom of the move.

The temporary moratorium is aimed at preventing landlords from hiking rents while the city designs a rent-control program. That process is expected to take several months.

A week after Santa Rosa Junior College students marched to Santa Rosa City Hall, council members voted in favor of a rent stabilization ordinance and a temporary moratorium halting substantial rent increases while city officials comb out the details of a long-term rent stabilization plan.

Santa Rosa residents and students marched from SRJC to downtown Santa Rosa’s council chamber May 3 to ask the city council to consider implementing a rent control and just-cause eviction ordinance in wake of the past year’s spike in rental costs.

For decades, the cost of renting a regulated apartment in New York has been partly determined not just by annual increases approved by a city board, but also by the far bigger raises allowed when an apartment becomes vacant.

Now, encouraged by their success in holding down the annual rent increases, advocates for tenants are renewing calls to end the vacancy increase, arguing that it is a significant and often overlooked factor in the cost of renting an apartment in the city.