Rent increases

There is a spike in the price of rental properties in Tracy that is making it difficult to live here unless your job is in the Bay Area.

Late last year the city commissioned a survey of Tracy residents and when the results were reveled in March, the cost to live in town was a big concern for the roughly 1,500 people who responded. Only 40 percent of people felt good about the cost of living in Tracy and only 34 percent expressed a positive view of the amount of affordable quality housing in town.

Renters are starting to look for cheaper housing options outside downtown cores, prompting rent payments to rise faster in the suburbs than in urban areas, according to a new Zillow® report out Friday. For the first time in four years, suburban rents are rising faster than urban rents.

"They are already making a huge profit. They bought these homes for pennies. They have already taken the money out of East Palo Alto. The rent is already $2,800. I'm a homeowner. That's more than my mortgage," he said.

The protesters said they have no grudge against mom-and-pop landlords with one or two properties; it's the corporate investors who snatch up large numbers of properties with whom they take umbrage.

The last time the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a rent-control ordinance was at the close of the Jimmy Carter administration in 1979. It lasted five years, and by the end of Ronald Reagan’s first term, in 1984, the County abolished rent control.

Within the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, rent control hasn’t been heard from since — not until last week, that is, when Supervisors Hilda Solís and Sheila Kuehl introduced a motion clearing the way for new protections for tenants in gentrifying areas of unincorporated East L.A.

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.

The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to explore policies aimed at expanding affordable housing options and protecting renters, calling it part and parcel of the fight against homelessness.

Supervisor Hilda Solis recommended the study.

"Countless residents in the unincorporated areas of my district have experienced skyrocketing rental rates in their neighborhoods," she said. "We need more tools to secure housing stability for the most vulnerable county residents."

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.

A year after a group of Latino residents seeking relief from soaring housing costs in the Monument Boulevard neighborhood spurred a debate over rent control, city leaders have established a process for tenants to appeal large rent increases.

Under the rent review program, tenants of all buildings with three or more units who receive a rent increase of more than 10 percent in a 12-month period may seek mediation. If the landlord and tenant fail to reach agreement, either party may request a public hearing before a panel that will deliver a nonbinding decision.

With local rent prices through the roof, one local builder says he has a solution to Sacramento’s affordable housing crisis: offer tiny, inexpensive, apartments to Downtown’s working people.

Apartments would go for $600 a month, but this downtown building isn’t catering to low-income earners.

Tim Bourke is a local barista, making minimum wage plus tips—pretty much, working to pay rent, he says.

“The increasing rent is getting tougher and tougher to live in downtown,” he says.