Tenant organizing

Organizers with San Diego Tenants United say the time for rent control in San Diego is now and that too many people are being displaced by rising rent costs.

They've gathered over 8,000 signatures on a change.org petition to implement rent control in the city.

"People are getting priced out of their homes, they're getting displaced, to the degree where you're seeing mass displacement," said organizer Rafael Bautista. "We're making homeless people by not creating rent control in San Diego."

San Diegans are rallying behind rent control. On Sunday, the group San Diego Tenants United held a march in Point Loma advocating for affordable rent and against "slumlords." Organizers say tenants of The Village Apartments have been asking management to make changes for months about several problems including cockroaches in units and harassment by a maintenance manager. San Diego Tenants United offers free information sessions about renters' rights in both English and Spanish.

Dozens of renters gathered in Vancouver on Sunday to voice their concerns and find strategies for more secure and affordable housing.

They were at the first annual convention for the Vancouver Tenants Union at the Russian Hall.

The union launched in April with the hope of signing up thousands of members to be a collective voice for residents facing eviction and unfair rent increases.

"We sort of came together to launch the Tenants Union with a few demands," said organizer Kell Gerlings.

After rent stabilization measures received mixed results around the Bay Area in the last election, voters in Pacifica will have their turn on Tuesday.

Volunteers who have been campaigning since the summer hope to convince homeowners, a group that makes up the majority of the city’s population, to vote for Measure C, which would limit how much landlords could raise rents.

Gloria Stofan, a resident since 1966, volunteers with Fair Rents 4 Pacifica. She said that, after speaking to four people, two said they’d vote no on Measure C, one said yes and one was undecided.

In late September, activists staged actions in 45 cities to draw attention to predatory rent practices and vast cuts to Housing and Urban Development funding. “Renters Week of Action” was partially inspired by a report put out by the Right to the City Alliance (RTC) highlighting solutions to the problems tenants now face after the foreclosure crisis.

“The majority of all renters pay an unaffordable rent,” Darnell Johnson of RTC told In These Times. “Eviction, rising rents and gentrification are racial, gender and economic violence harming our people.”

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.

We're blown away.

As Pete Yamamoto recalls the events of Aug. 4, 1977 — the infamous eviction night at Kearny Street’s old International Hotel — his eyes are closed.

For several minutes, he seems to be trying to concentrate as he recounts what occurred 40 years ago. But after a while, he pauses, bows his head and trembles silently.