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In Berlin, A Grass-Roots Fight Against Gentrification as Rents Soar

When visitors want to experience this city’s much celebrated “alternative” culture, they often make their way to Heinrichplatz, a graffiti-covered square in the Kreuzberg neighborhood that for decades has been a hub for independent arts, underground night life and radical politics.

But on a recent Saturday afternoon, the usual clusters of selfie-snapping tourists and cafegoers were met by hundreds of demonstrators carrying signs that read, “We’re all staying” or “Say no to crowding out,” and protesting rising rents, forced evictions and rampant real estate speculation.

Richmond Rent Program

The Richmond Rent Program is a city program that enforces the Richmond Fair Rent, Just Cause for Evictions and Homeowner's Protection Ordinance. The program provides information and assistance to tenants and landlords who are covered by the Ordinance, which went into effect December 30, 2016. Tenants can call with questions about rent increases, repair and habitability issues, evictions, and other tenant-landlord issues. The City of Richmond also puts on regular Know-Your-Rights trainings. Upcoming trainings:

City of Alameda Rent and Community Programs

The City of Alameda Housing Authority runs the Rent Review Advisory Committee (RRAC). This is a rent review program that enforces the Rent Stabilization and Eviction Ordinance no3148.

Alameda County Bar Association: Free 1st Saturday Legal Clinic

The Alameda County Bar Association Volunteer Legal Services Corporation (VLSC) will hosts this free legal clinic once per month on the first Saturday.

Priced Out: Rent Control Becomes Focus of Sacramento Town Hall on Housing

Sacramento may be Northern California’s next battleground for rent control.

During a town hall meeting at the Memorial Auditorium last week, a number of residents told central city Councilman Steve Hansen that the state capital needs rent stabilization before any more people are displaced by rising prices.

Tenants are winning locally

Tenants all over the state are facing massive unprecedented displacement because of landlords and real-estate speculators gambling on our homes, causing rents to rise. However, we are continuing to build momentum with several local wins in the past month.

We Need REAL Solutions to the Housing Crisis

Californians are living in overcrowded, uninhabitable conditions and are paying more than half their income in rent. Meanwhile cities primarily produce luxury market-rate housing (if they produce any at all), lack basic anti-displacement policies, and code enforcement departments don't prioritize the needs of tenants.

We need to change our priorities to protect people first, not profits. Instead of housing policy for the few, we propose these guiding principles to inform state and local legislative solutions:

Gentrification Has Virtually No Effect on Homeowners

Gentrification is the hottest of hot-button urban issues. Many activists and critics see it as essentially a process by which more affluent and educated white newcomers displace poorer, working-class black residents. But those who have studied the subject closely, like Columbia University urban planner Lance Freeman, believe that the issue of displacement is more myth than reality. In fact, Freeman’s detailed empirical research has found that the probability of a family being displaced by gentrification in New York City was a mere 1.3 percent.

Project Sentinel: Modesto Office

Project Sentinel assists individuals with housing problems such as discrimination, mortgage foreclosure & delinquency, rental issues including repairs, deposits, privacy, dispute resolution, home buyer education, post purchase education and reverse mortgages.

Modesto Office, Housing Discrimination:

Project Sentinel's Fair Housing Center provides education and counseling to community members, housing providers, and tenants about fair housing laws. We also investigate complaints and advocate for those who have experienced housing discrimination.

Project Sentinel: Gilroy Office

Project Sentinel assists individuals with housing problems such as discrimination, mortgage foreclosure & delinquency, rental issues including repairs, deposits, privacy, dispute resolution, home buyer education, post purchase education and reverse mortgages.

Gilroy Office, Housing Discrimination:

Project Sentinel's Fair Housing Center provides education and counseling to community members, housing providers, and tenants about fair housing laws. We also investigate complaints and advocate for those who have experienced housing discrimination.

Rent increases