MENLO PARK.- Given the eviction situations and the excessive increase in rents in San Mateo County, women like Laura, Trinidad, Katherine and Amy, residents of the area, called on the population to know their rights as tenants at the same time who made their families' stories known, as part of the “Tenants Belong” forum within the framework of Affordable Housing month.
The event held this Saturday, May 13, was carried out with the objective of raising awareness about the rights of tenants and their importance in cities that have a large number of inhabitants without a property, as is the case of Menlo Park, where 42 percent of residents rent a house, according to data from civil associations.
“Tenants do not enjoy the same rights as homeowners, they do not enjoy the same protections of the same stability and it turns out that many tenants are Spanish-speaking, they are immigrants, sometimes undocumented people who do not always know their rights or are evicted. and they think that this is allowed by their ?immigration? status,” explained Ofelia Bello, director of Youth United for Community Action ?YUCA, for its acronym in English?.
In addition to YUCA, the forum was also hosted by Menlo Together, Bay Area Faith in Action and Housing Leadership Council at Trinity Hall in Menlo Park.
Among the voices seeking to expand were Laura Rubio of East Palo Alto, Trinidad Villegas of Redwood City, Katherine Dumont of Menlo Park, as well as Amy Arellín, who spoke on behalf of her mother; The latter had to maintain the house she rented, since her landlord did not pay any attention.
For her part, Trinidad began the fight for justice for tenants when her rent increased by $400 from one moment to the next, which forced her to look for a second job and neglect her health; Days later, the organization Fe en Acción appeared at his church to make other similar cases visible. They organized and obtained a cap of 10 percent on the annual rent increase in Redwood City, where he has lived for 22 years.
«Redwood City is my home and I like it because my family lives there, my grandchildren live, this whole beautiful community lives with the desire to fight, like me. I, like hundreds of other people, live worried about maintaining a decent place for myself and my family, about maintaining health with so much stress that we live with this housing situation," Trinidad confessed.
Laura Rubio and Katherine Dumont joined this same fight due to the eviction situations they experienced; the first of them received a three-day eviction notice after opposing the towing of their vehicles and those of their neighbors, since then the fight for fair housing has become their passion.
The four speakers called on the general population to know their rights as tenants, approach local authorities, as well as civil organizations to go to court in case of an eviction order.
Likewise, Amy Arellín invited those who have it to learn about local policies and exercise the right to vote, as well as express their testimonies on this topic.
Initiatives
Faith in Action in the Bay Area announced that they presented a document with three proposals to the City Council to be included in the Anti-Displacement Plan in Redwood City.
The first is a local anti-harassment law with an accountability mechanism for those who don't comply. The second proposes to protect tenants from renovation evictions, since it would require justification for the renovation and would include the right to return for people who rent in the place.
Finally, they propose the implementation of a relationship office between owners and tenants to attend to all matters related to housing and the creation of a rental registry.
The organization Jóvenes Unidos por Acción Comunitaria also has a proposal for local legislation, the Opportunity to Purchase Law ?OPA for its acronym in English?, which would offer tenant families the opportunity to learn about the sale of the property they live in and the possibility to make an offer.
“The policy proposes that when a house where a family who are tenants lives is going to be sold, the owner of the house has to let the tenant know that the house is being sold and they have to give them the opportunity of the first offer for them to acquire the property”, explained the director Ofelia Bello.
He added that the goal of this law is that investors do not treat the community as a transaction, since the prices of houses in California, especially in the Bay Area, have gone up "so much", which leads to Entrepreneurs view portfolio homes as an opportunity to become richer.
"It cannot be that, as a community, we care more that an investor earns money than that a family has stability and has the opportunity to buy the house," Ofelia said.
In addition, the initiative integrates a way for housing organizations in East Palo Alto to help families buy their homes, specifically Affordable Home Developers.
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