City Manager Learns a Tough Lesson: Don’t Mess with Rent Control!

Equity Residential (EQR) owns over half the rent control housing in the city of East Palo Alto (EPA).  Headed by anti-rent control zealot Sam Zell, EQR has enjoyed a cozy relationship with East Palo Alto’s City Manger through which EQR has been able to interfere with the work of the rent program staff.  The situation became so unbearable that EPA’s widely respected Rent Program Administrator Carol Lamont resigned in protest in May of this year.

TT issued a Public Records Act request to uncover what was really going on in EPA.  The documents reveal that the City Manager had effectively given control over the regulatory process to the biggest landlord in East Palo Alto. Responding to complaints from Equity Residential (EQR), the city's largest landlord, the City Manager interfered with enforcement of the Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO). Whether motivated by bias or incompetence, the City Manager allowed her office to be used by EQR as a tool to impose its will and override the efforts of the Rent Stabilization Administrator to enforce the RSO. EQR acknowledged her efforts in an email thanking her for her "continued support."

TT publicized the findings in a press release on July 9.  Media coverage followed.  Gonzalez’s response was to say that TT had “cherry picked from the documents.”  One online commenter said it best: “You can't cherry pick if there are no cherries to pick.”

In a dramatic hearing on July 14, tenants turned out in force to demand change.  Dozens of EPA residents spoke out against City Manager Gonzalez for her mismanagement of rent control, law enforcement, and other matters of concern.  On July 15, the City Council announced that it had hired a search consultant to find a new City Manager.

This is a huge victory for EPA residents and for the preservation of rent control in EPA.  It is also a major setback for EQR’s efforts to undermine rent control. This victory sends a strong message that City leaders who cozy up to major landlords do so at their own risk.

Victory! Tenants win Anti-Bedbug protocol in City of Concord

In Response to Tenant Organizing, City of Concord Adopts Bed Bug Policy

The City of Concord in Contra Costa County has adopted a Bed Bug Response Pilot Program and declared bedbugs a public nuisance subject to civil, criminal and administrative remedies. The new policy embraces the City’s role in enforcing a landlord’s obligation to provide a bed bug free home to their tenants.

Tenants Together has been organizing buildings in Concord where landlords have been allowing bed bug infestations to persist. In the summer of 2013, TT began helping Concord tenants make formal complaints. In October, tenants testified at a city council meeting about the problem. In response, City Councilmember Edi Birsan vowed to take action.

Tenant organizing moved city policy

The new policy follows a period of inaction on bed bug complaints. Initially, city code enforcement officials and county public health officials frustrated tenants by “passing the buck,” each claiming the other was responsible for holding landlords accountable to address bedbug infestations.

Monica Damian, a tenant living in the Monument corridor, a neighborhood afflicted with infestations, welcomed the news: “We’ve been suffering with these bed bugs biting us for so long. I’m glad the City is recognizing the problem and taking steps to address it, but it needs to happen without delay. These bugs are biting our family every night and we need help.”

What can you do in your community?
If you’re interested in organizing your building or starting a Tenant Action Group in your city, contact our Organizer, Guillermo Elenes at Guillermo@tenantstogether.org to get some advice.