News and Views

New York landlords, anticipating a Democrat takeover of the Senate and pro-tenant fights, have begun making contributions to Senate Democrats.
Tenants of the California Hotel, a low-income residential hotel in Oakland, have filed a $53 million lawsuit against the city of Oakland for being part of a scheme to evict the tenants and shut down the hotel.
  • Alameda
Homelessness is a problem for the working poor in Tuolomne who cannot afford to rent and maintain other living costs despite being employed.
  • Tuolumne
This Wall Street Journal article is about a San Diego real estate investment bank which is buying foreclosed properties in San Diego and planning to rent them out until the housing market recovers.
  • San Diego
Voice of San Diego offers a local account of a family who unknowingly rented a home that had been purchased using fraudulent information and ended up in foreclosure.
  • San Diego
Due to a shortage of affordable housing, Amador County struggles to keep farm workers who can no longer afford to commute from the Central Valley due to the rising costs of gas.
  • Amador
August 4, 2008
The residents of East Palo Alto continue their struggle against Page Mill Properties, which is displacing more and more tenants by enforcing a third round of illegal rent increases.
  • Santa Clara
A new study conducted by ECHO, the Eden Council for Hope and Opportunity, concluded that in 32 out of 101 cases, East Bay landlords discriminated against racial minorities in the rental process.
  • Contra Costa
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  • Alameda
One Merced woman struggles with being a renter in a foreclosed apartment building.
  • Merced
August 2, 2008
A Delaware landlord drove his Hummer into the rental property he owns because he was upset with the tenants for being behind on their rent.
NPR's All Things Considered looks at the new housing bill and what it does for affordable housing.
  • Los Angeles
A new HUD study concluded that homeless nationwide had decreased over the past two years, but this is not the case in Ventura County.
  • Ventura
Homeless advocates in Whittier are seeing a rise in homelessness from people who lost their homes in foreclosures and cannot afford rents.
  • Los Angeles
July 31, 2008
This Fresno Bee article describes how an entire neighborhood of renters in Visalia is disappearing as a result foreclosures. Two tenants in one of the foreclosed rental properties have also been laid off from their jobs-one by a construction company, the other by a bank.
It's inspiring to see what's happening in the community of East Palo Alto right now. This rent control city is under attack by a predatory real estate investor but the people are fighting back and they're proving they have the solidarity, ingenuity, skills and determination to win.
  • San Francisco
According to this article, the term "boycott" originated in Ireland when laborers and merchants protested Charles Boycott's evictions of tenants who had complained that their rent was too high.
  • San Diego
This Palo Alto Daily News article covers the class action lawsuit filed by tenants against Page Mill Properties, alleging that the rent hikes Page Mill is implementing are illegal.
  • Santa Clara
Randy Shaw discusses a new National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) that is a part of the new housing bill and that would guarantee annual funding for the construction of affordable housing.
  • San Francisco
Renters are being defrauded in schemes involving vacant foreclosed properties and scam artists posing as landlords.

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