he petition filed at the beginning of this month to introduce a form of rent stabilization in the city of Glendale hit an administrative setback last week as the city clerk’s office deemed the filing of more than 11,000 signatures invalid due to compliance issues with state election codes.
Glendale affordable housing advocates have been forced to start over on a ballot initiative which would have forced limits on rent increases throughout the city,
After turning in 11,000 signatures to the Glendale City Council on Oct. 3, the Glendale Tenants Union learned on Oct. 11 that the City Clerk had rejected their petition because it did not comply with state election laws.
Rent stabilization for mobile home parks may soon return to the city.
The Vallejo City Council voted 6-0 during its Oct. 10 meeting to hold on first reading an ordinance which would protect those living in mobile home parks from excessive rent increases.
To make the action final, the council must approve an ordinance for a final time at a future meeting. Then 30 days after the final vote, the ordinance becomes active.
The move comes after city officials discovered it had inadvertently repealed its rent stabilization ordinance for mobile home parks in April 2016.
We're blown away.
“I’m paying $950 [for rent per month] there, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed [that it doesn’t go up],” said Cat Mendoza on August 26. She lives off of 44th Street in City Heights, just a couple blocks away from the “Know Your Tenants Rights/Conozca sus Derechos de Inquilino” meeting that she attended with three others.
“It’s increased from $700 [per month],” said Mendoza, 32, “and it’s comparatively lower than certain areas — but we still have a lot of stuff that needs to be fixed.”
“Now you’ve pissed off grandma.”
“Correct the folly! Reinstate rent control.”
“No loophole! Rent control.”
So read some of the mostly hand-made signs held aloft by a couple dozen senior citizens and veterans gathered in front of Vallejo City Hall on Monday in protest of the city’s inaction in re-instating a rent stabilization ordinance accidentally repealed last year.
People like Sandra Wickers, 83, who has lived in a Vallejo mobile home park for 28 years, and Marie Dunham, 84, who has made the same park her home for 40 years, were there Monday.
National City residents called for rent control laws and demanded more affordable housing Thursday.
Community groups, tenants and other allies launched a campaign for local rent control and just cause eviction protections, according to the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment.
The group met at the 130 block of East 8th Street at noon to call for change in their city.
As Bay Area residents continue to face high housing costs, tenants and community activists are calling on corporate landlords to stop rent increases and for support in broadening rent control legislation.
Merika Reagan, an East Oakland resident who owns a pet care and dog walking business, is part of Housing Now! — a statewide coalition of more than 50 tenants rights groups, labor unions, community organizations, housing advocates and small landlords — who are fighting to make housing more affordable.
Nearly a decade after the housing market’s collapse, California’s real estate market has bounced back — and then some. The median price for a two-bedroom rental in San Francisco, depending on what report is used, ranges from roughly $3,000 a month to well over $4,000. The median home-sale price in the state, says the California Association of Realtors, is over $536,000.
At a packed meeting Tuesday night, the Fremont City Council backed off from pursuing rent control measures after weighing options and hearing from dozens of landlords and tenants.
While Councilman Vinnie Bacon said he favors aggressive rent control and eviction protection measures, he was alone. Councilmen David Bonaccorsi and Raj Salwan said they would prefer to strengthen the city’s existing resolution program, which mediates rent increase disputes between landlords and tenants.