Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Announces $1 Million Grant to Benefit California Homeowners & Tenants

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris last week announced a $1 million California Homeowner Bill of Rights implementation grant to The National Housing Law Project.

“Californians were hit hard by the mortgage crisis and many people are still struggling to stay in their homes,” Attorney General Harris said. “The California Homeowner Bill of Rights gives borrowers more opportunities to stay in their homes, and this grant will help make sure the law is applied across the state and that everyone gets the protection they are entitled to.”

The California Homeowner Bill of Rights (HBOR) is a set of landmark laws that extend key mortgage and foreclosure protections to California homeowners and borrowers. The laws, which took effect at the beginning of this year, restrict dual-track foreclosures, guarantee struggling homeowners a reliable point of contact at their lender, impose civil penalties on fraudulently signed mortgage documents and require loan servicers to document their right to foreclose.

This grant will maximize consumer benefits from the HBOR, while minimizing abuses of the law by providing training to California consumer and housing attorneys from both private and non-profit firms.

The National Housing Law Project will partner with Western Center on Law and Poverty, National Consumer Law Center and Tenants Together to implement this grant.

The National Housing Law Project and its partners will use the grant to:

• Provide high-quality, on-site trainings and webinars to consumer and housing attorneys on how to maximize the HBOR’s protections.
• Train more than 800 lawyers.
• Provide support in cases that raise important legal issues or have potential for broad impact.
• Create a library of litigation materials to help attorneys maximize the HBOR’s benefits.
• Produce a report that analyzes the HBOR’s statewide impact and identifies compliance problems.

Funds provided through this grant were secured by Attorney General Harris through the $18 billion National Mortgage Settlement.

Established in 1968, The National Housing Law Project seeks to advance housing justice by advocating for affordable housing, litigating to uphold homeowners’ and tenants’ rights and offering technical assistance to legal aid attorneys who work with low-income families.

The State Bar has partnered with the Attorney General’s Office to administer the grant and monitor compliance. The National Housing Law Project will provide quarterly financial and program reports to the State Bar and the Attorney General’s Office.

See our tenant rights counselors in action

Our new cohort of volunteer counselors, who went through an initial training in January, brushed up on their skills together last Friday afternoon. Central to the training was reviewing the basic rights for tenants in foreclosure situations and getting clarity on what can often be a confusing, inhumane situation caused by banks, investment companies, and their real estate representatives. Photos from the day:

Group shot of everyone in the office Friday 3/22

Gold team takes a stab at the tenant foreclosure rights and process flow chart.

Blue team puts forth their best effort.

Counselors in attendance and their supervisor, Aimee.

Our counselors come from all walks of life, including students at local law schools, tenant rights activists, recently graduated public interest lawyers, and retired advocates for justice. With their passion and commitment, it's possible for us to help thousands of tenants across the state understand and assert their rights each year.

We work to help tenants demand necessary repairs, get their security deposit back, and fight back against unfair evictions, harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. If you are a California tenant, call us at 888-495-8020 to reach a counselor.

We're back! Open thread

Tenants Together has renewed its commitment to "Rents & Rants" and we've started posting regularly on Wednesdays and refreshed our layout a bit. Check back weekly for the latest news and commentary!

The best blogs foster a vibrant community as well as us providing fresh content.

In that spirit, we're opening up the comments section in this post to two topics:
1. What kind of content would you like to see on this blog?
2. What other blogs should we be following? We're thinking blogs focused on tenant rights, CA's progressive community, or vibrant community blogs.

Please share your thoughts and opinions in the comments!

Senator Leno Introduces Bill to Promote Fair Treatment of Tenant Security Deposits

Senator Mark Leno (D - San Francisco) has announced the introduction of SB 603, a bill to promote fair treatment of tenant security deposits. SB 603 would require deposit funds to be held separate accounts, require interest payments to tenants on any funds held, and impose penalties if deposit funds are improperly withheld at the conclusion of a tenancy.

"One the biggest complaints California's 15 million renters voice when a lease ends is that they have little recourse in dealing with a landlord who refuses to return their deposits," said Senator Leno, D-San Francisco. "At a time when deposits can be $5,000 or more, the failure to pay interest or properly return a security deposit can be a significant and unnecessary financial burden on many renters. SB 603 protects tenants in this situation by encouraging landlords to return security deposits in a timely manner, as required by law," he said.

SB 603 is co-sponsored by Tenants Together, Western Center on Law and Poverty and California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation. The bill responds to widespread complaints from tenants across the state that their deposits are unfairly withheld. According to a recent survey of Tenants Together members, 60% reported that some or all of their security deposit had been improperly withheld.

"It's gotten so bad that tenants paying their security deposits don't ever expect to see that money again," commented Dean Preston, Executive Director of Tenants Together, California's statewide organization for renters' rights. "California's 15 million renters deserve better when it comes to the billions of their dollars being held as deposits," commented Preston.

Security deposits are among the largest financial assets, and sometimes the only asset, that many tenants have. Deposits can be thousands of dollars, particularly in Senator Leno's 11th Senate District that encompasses San Francisco.

Brain Augusta, Legislative Advocate at the Western Center on Law and Poverty, noted the unfairness of depriving tenants of interest on deposits. "Landlords who hold tenants' money, sometimes for years, should be required to pay the renter interest," said Augusta. "This isn't just a landlord-tenant issue. It's about basic consumer protection." Currently, only a handful of jurisdictions in California require that tenants be paid interest on security deposits.

The cause has quickly attracted broad support. Tenants Together recently launched www.YourDeposit.org, a new website to educate tenants and protect deposits. Already, 20 community organizations including tenant groups, unions, civil rights groups, and consumer advocates have signed onto the effort.

SB 603 will be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee this spring.

March Tenant News Roundup

News across California:

San Luis Obispo: 40 students displaced after safety violations found at SLO condos
Students in SLO displaced by slum conditions and illegal property divisions that caused overcrowding. According to the article, these conditions had existed at the property since at least 1994.

Alameda: Council members: Rising rents could prompt controls
Tenants in a multi-unit building in the city of Alameda are facing rent increases of 55% or more after a change of ownership. Some council members open to considering rent control in response.

Fresno: Assessor Mailed More Than 2,000 Foreclosure Fact Sheets
Fresno County is one of only two counties in California where the government warns tenants that the property in which they live may be going into foreclosure. The Fresno Assessor provides information for both homeowners and tenants in distressed properties.

LA County: Courts Plan Will Hurt Poor Tenants, Advocates Say
The decision to reduce the number of courts hearing eviction cases will have a detrimental impact on low-income tenants, as they will have to travel long distances to the court hearing their cases. In some cases tenants would have to take public transportation from the San Fernando Valley to Santa Monica for a hearing.


Notable nationwide tenant news:

Your New Landlord Works on Wall Street
More investment companies taking up the business of being landlords, driving up the cost of rent in many communities. Many companies can be absentee landlords who make minimal cosmetic repairs.

R.I. Pols to Talk Tenants' Rights Bill
Rhode Island politicians are discussing a "just cause" eviction bill for tenants in foreclosed properties there. Last year a similar bill passed the Rhode Island House of Representatives, but failed in the State Senate.

Union Members Fight Foreclosure Evictions with Sit-downs and Blockades
Community organizations and unions have been working to stop evictions of homeowners in foreclosed properties.

An international perspective from a TT intern

Last semester UC Berkeley student Daniel joined the Tenants Together team as a Spanish Translation Intern. Dani spent the semester translating outreach and know-your-rights materials from English to Spanish and counseling on our Tenant Foreclosure Hotline. Born and raised primarily in Spain, Dani brought an important international perspective to our work. He is spending this semester abroad in France and sent us a few of the sociological observations he's made so far:

"I've been asking about tenancy in France, and apparently there is a real tenancy crisis here. That is, the cities, especially Paris, are overcrowded and people are being stuffed into small apartments while being asked to pay sky-high rents. There are those who search for an apartment in Paris for months and must face defeat. Some activist organizations even break into people's unoccupied houses and place tenants in need of housing there."

"Also, the requirements for tenancy are much different. If you go to an immobilier (realtor agency), they ask for a lot of private information, not just whether you have a job, but also your bank account, your last paycheck, your tax accounts, and a letter from your employer. It all seems a bit excessive, which is why a lot of people prefer to make private arrangements through online postings, etc."

"On the positive side, they have a rather nice law which says that you can't evict anyone during the winter months, even if they don't pay their rent! There is also a rather helpful social services branch called Caisse d'allocations familiales (CAF) which financially assists students and low income families so that they can pay their rent. Even as a foreign student, I can opt for this aid! So in this sense, the French government is very generous."

Do you have an international perspective? Landlord/tenant struggles share commonalities across borders, and it's always helpful to glean inspiration and lessons from fellow activists, wherever they may be. Please share your observations on laws and organizing models from abroad in the comments.

Hotline Happy Endings...

Since 2009, Tenants Together has helped over 7,500 tenants in foreclosure situations know and assert their rights. Recently, we have had more and more calls from tenants in Fannie Mae-owned properties getting the runaround. Real estate agents representing Fannie Mae regularly give tenants invalid or confusing notices to quit, pressure tenants to accept cash-for-keys deals, and refuse to give tenants proof of ownership. Tenants who have been dutifully paying their rent have to deal with their whole lives being turned upside-down. This is fundamentally unfair, and through our hotline we help empower tenants to demand better outcomes for them and their families. 

Wendy—Sonoma County: 

Wendy first called our Tenant Foreclosure Hotline in the Fall of 2011 because she discovered her landlord was in default. We advised her on her general rights and what to expect if her rental went into foreclosure. After foreclosure Wendy dealt with a Fannie Mae representative who misled Wendy on their stated policy to continue to rent to tenants. In the Fall of 2012, Fannie Mae issued her an eviction notice. With help from our counselors, she was able to negotiate a cash-for-keys agreement that was on her terms. Wendy said, “I have been relying on Tenants Together for advice as a tenant who was facing foreclosure… Every single person that I spoke with offered helpful information… I simply could not have survived and triumphed without your guidance.” 

Tony—Fresno County: 

Tony called our hotline because he was given a 30, 60, or 90 day notice to move out by a real estate agent representing Fannie Mae (with this kind of confusing notice it is left to the tenant to figure out which time period applies to them). Tony was also confused because there were multiple agents claiming to represent Fannie Mae. After a couple counseling sessions on our hotline, Tony responded in writing to Fannie Mae asking for a clear point of contact. With further help, Tony successfully pushed back against his notice to move and was able to negotiate a year lease with Fannie Mae. He is currently working out the details of the agreement, but we are happy he’s met his goal of being able to stay in his home as long as possible!

If you or someone you know is a tenant in a foreclosure situation please have them call our hotline at 888.495.8020 to speak with one of our trained volunteer counselors.

“It’s Your Money” – Campaign Launches to Protect California Tenants from Security Deposit Theft

Today we're launching “It’s Your Money,” a new campaign to stop security deposit theft by California landlords.  The campaign website, www.YourDeposit.org, features know-your-rights information for tenants, tips on how to protect deposits, tenant stories and policy recommendations.  The site allows tenants to share their security deposit horror stories.

Security deposit theft is one of the most common grievances among California’s 15 million renters.   In a recent survey, over 60% of Tenants Together members reported improper withholding of deposit money.  This is an astonishing figure, but not one that surprises anyone working with California tenants.

“Millions of dollars are being stolen from tenants every year,” commented Dean Preston, Executive Director of Tenants Together, California’s statewide organization for renters’ rights.  “It’s gotten so bad that tenants paying their security deposits don’t ever expect to see that money again. Something has got to change.”

Unlike in many other states, California law does not require deposit money to be held in a separate account, does not require a landlord to pay interest on the deposit to tenants, and rarely imposes any penalty on landlords that improperly withhold deposits.

The “It’s Your Money” campaign seeks to change the dynamic and bring about basic fairness when it comes to security deposits.  The campaign coalition is united around three basic principles:
1. Deposit money should not be co-mingled with other landlord assets
2. Tenants deserve interest on security deposits
3. Landlords who improperly withhold deposits must face meaningful penalties

We are encouraging tenants to share their story and individuals and organizations to sign on to support the basic principles of the campaign.

For more information, visit www.YourDeposit.org.

February Tenant News Roundup

Rising rents in California continue to squeeze working families and this month some tenant groups and cities have taken up the issue. From defending rent control in San Francisco to proposing rent protections where there are none, tenants are raising their voice. To put the problem in perspective, a recent graphic using data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition highlights the fact that tenants in California would have to work 130 minimum wage hours per week to afford a two bedroom apartment. For many tenants, this means regularly being forced to make a choice between paying their rent and feeding their family, or living in substandard housing. Tenants Together continues to support measures to ensure families have access to safe & affordable housing.


News across the state:

Concord: Mobile Home Residents Angered by Rent Increase
Concord mobile home residents are angered by an Administrative Law Judge's decision that requires them to pay a retroactive rent increase. Some residents have had to take out loans to make the payment.

San Francisco: TIC Legislation is a Rent Control Issue 
Proposed legislation would allow some 2,000 TIC (tenants-in-common) units to bypass the City's limits on condominium conversions, and thus be removed from rent control protections.

Richmond: Controversy Oven Rent Control, Renters' Rights 
The Richmond City Council is looking at the Housing Element of the General Plan, which includes proposals for rent control and "just cause" eviction. Fifty percent of Richmond residents rent their homes.


Notable news outside California:

Arkansas Law Jails Tenants Who Don't Pay Their Rent
Human Rights Watch has condemned the landlord-tenant laws in Arkansas that allow landlords to have tenants jailed if they do not pay their rent or move within 10 days of receiving notice. HRW notes that, in addition to being fundamentally unfair to tenants, landlords frequently abuse the law, in collusion with corrupt public officials.

Christie Blocks Foreclosed Homes as Affordable Housing
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has again vetoed legislation that would enable municipalities in New Jersey to use affordable housing funds to take over foreclosed properties, rehab them, and keep them as permanent affordable housing. Instead, Governor Christie wants to use foreclosure relief monies to plug holes in New Jersey's state budget.

Housing Voucher Holders Seek Protection in Cook County
In Chicago, people with housing vouchers are protected from discrimination. Not in suburban Cook County. Landlords can refuse to rent to tenants with vouchers -- just because. But housing activists and some politicians are trying to change that by changing an ordinance.

Is City Program Incentivizing Displacement in NY?

In Saturday's New York Times, there was a front page article on a NY landlord who is participating in a program to house homeless New Yorkers. It appears from the article that the featured mega-landlord is converting rentals occupied by long-term tenants into rentals for formerly homeless tenants whose rent is then subsidized by the city, with the subsidized rentals being more lucrative for the landlord. The article fails to address the fundamental problem of displacing one group of tenants in order to house another.

Shouldn't the program have restrictions to prevent subsidies to landlords who engage in this kind of displacement? If not, many of the folks who are displaced will end up homeless, defeating the very purpose of the City's program.

Upheld: Ordinance Requiring Routine Inspection of Rental Units

By Dean Preston

A recent case barely registered on anyone's radar screen, but it will have a huge impact. In Griffith v. City of Santa Cruz, (2012) 207 Cal.App.4th 982, the Court upheld Santa Cruz's 2010 ordinance requiring routine inspections of rental housing. The decision puts to rest various arguments used by opponents of rental housing inspection laws.

Routine inspections are essential to effective code enforcement. These laws complement complaint-driven inspections. Too often, tenants are afraid to complain about poor living conditions for fear that their landlord will retaliate against them. Even though such retaliation is illegal, the fear of it is very real. Under routine inspection ordinances, landlords cannot count on their tenants’ fear to escape responsibility for making necessary repairs. Code enforcement officials will inspect regardless of whether a tenant complains.

Landlords complained that the Santa Cruz ordinance in the case was preempted by state law and interfered with their right to privacy. The court dismissed these arguments, finding the local inspection law fully consistent with state law, and noting correctly that the landlord has no right to privacy in a unit occupied by tenants. Tenants have the right to privacy as they have the exclusive right to occupy, and the ordinance has safeguards to make sure that the tenant’s right to privacy is not violated.

The court also explicitly upheld the $45 registration fee and the $20 per unit charge imposed on landlords, holding that this was not a tax, but instead a fee to offset the costs of administering the program.

It is rare to have a good court decision with such clarity on an issue of importance to tenants. The message to cities in California is clear: routine inspection laws are a legal and effective way to improve living conditions for tenants.

Merced Referendum Puts the Fear of Justice into Mayor Thurston and Realtor Cronies

By Dean Preston

Merced Mayor Stan Thurston and his cronies were apparently so concerned about tenants at City Hall last week that they called in the riot police to intimidate our members who have testified peacefully for over a year at city council hearings. The show of force was offensive and a waste of taxpayer money. While their fear of violence is misplaced, their fear of a united and empowered group of tenants is not. Thurston and his cronies know that they can only continue to wield power if they silence and intimidate renters who make up the overwhelming majority of the residents of Merced.

The Merced County Registrar has determined that our referendum lacked sufficient signatures to overturn the City of Merced’s recent decision to repeal the City’s Just Cause for Eviction law. We are seeking more information from the Registrar about how this determination was reached. Regardless, we have emerged from this fight more determined than ever to protect renters in Merced and across the Central Valley.

For those who haven’t been following the developments in Merced, here’s some background. In November 2011, the Merced City Council made history by passing a just cause for eviction law to protect innocent renters in foreclosed properties. The law was the product of a one-year effort by Tenants Together members to educate the council about the impact of foreclosures on renters and how the city could take action. The Just Cause law stops banks and investors from evicting tenants based on foreclosure alone. This cost-free law prevents unfair displacement, prolonged vacancies, and blight in the city. The measure was praised by residents, the local newspaper, and local politicians.

As the first city in the region to pass a tenant protection ordinance, Merced received national attention for this proactive approach to protecting the community from banks and vulture investors whose eviction policies have destroyed the fabric of so many communities. The law went into effect in December 2011 and worked well for six months to control the foreclosure eviction epidemic.

When leadership on the Merced City Council changed, the new Mayor and his cronies decided that a top priority was to repeal the cost-free Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance. The mayor and new councilmembers had received campaign donations from real estate interests who saw keeping homes occupied as a threat to their commissions.

On June 4, 2012, Merced’s new mayor, Stan Thurston, new councilmembers Mike Murphy, Tony Dossetti, and incumbent councilmember Josh Pedrozo, by a 4-3 vote repealed Merced’s just cause for eviction law. There was not a single complaint of misuse of the Just Cause law, no incidents of the “fraud” that opponents claimed would result from the law, and absolutely no reason other than realtor campaign donations to repeal this sensible law that was protecting innocent renters after foreclosure.

The whole repeal effort was an embarrassing display of special interest politics at its worst, with Thurston, Murphy, Pedrozo and Dossetti bending over backwards to serve the interests of realtors employed by banks to drive good people out of their homes. Given the cast of characters, this was no surprise.

Mayor Thurston is a landlord with multiple rental properties in Merced and an axe to grind. He claims tenants have too many rights already. Dossetti is also a landlord who bought a foreclosed property and rents it out. His argument at hearings seems to be that because he wouldn’t evict his tenant there’s no need for a city law to stop banks and investors from doing so. Murphy is employed by Orrick Herrington, a huge national law firm that boasts of its representation of banks in mortgage securitization and other practices that led to the foreclosure crisis. No conflict there, right? Pedrozo appears to lack any conviction on the issue. He literally voted for the Just Cause law in August, against it in November, for it in December, and against it in June. Pedrozo originally praised the law as a proactive solution for the city, but that was before real estate interests told him to change his vote.

Tenants and allies in Merced responded immediately to the repeal, circulating the first referendum in the city’s history. A successful referendum would overturn the city council’s repeal and leave the Just Cause law intact. The goal was ambitious: collect signatures from 10% of registered city voters – 2949 to be precise -- within 30 days. This threshold is significantly higher than the threshold for initiatives (5% over many months) or county referenda (10% of actual voters, not registered voters).

Merced Tenants Together members were not deterred by the odds. Braving summer heat, our members took to the streets circulating a referendum petition to overturn the City Council’s action. The response from residents was overwhelmingly supportive of these renter protections.

On July 5, 2012, Merced Tenants Together members turned in a referendum petition signed by thousands of Mercedians. Assuming the accuracy of sampling results announced by the Registrar last week, at least 2,495 registered City of Merced voters signed the petition in 30 days. This did not cross the threshold of 2,949 required for the referendum to be effective, but is nonetheless a very impressive effort on the part of determined Merced renters.

To put this in perspective, more registered Merced voters signed this petition in 30 days than voted to put Mayor Thurston in office. (Thurston won election with just 2,231 votes back in November 2011.)

Thurston and his cronies can savor a temporary victory in preventing the Just Cause law from staying in effect, but the petition results should be very sobering for Mayor Thurston, councilmember Murphy, Councilmember Dossetti, and Councilmember Pedrozo.

Regardless of the ultimate outcome, the referendum drive was extremely productive. Among other accomplishments, the campaign:
• Registered new voters. These are new voters who are passionate about renters’ rights. Watch out!
• Obtained more signatures from registered Merced voters in 30 days than it takes to become mayor of Merced
• Educated thousands of Mercedians about the Just Cause for Eviction law and how local government can stop unfair evictions
• Exposed the fact that the Mayor and Councilmembers Dossetti, Murphy and Pedrozo sided with big banks and their realtors over innocent renters
• Attracted new Tenants Together members and trained local activists how to fight for fairness and justice for tenants

In the future, real estate industry interests will regret that they didn’t leave this modest law in place. By overreaching, the realtor-led repeal effort is uniting tenants and allies in support of renters’ rights in Merced and beyond.

In the meantime, next time you see a vacant, blighted property in Merced, think of the family that was kicked out of their home, and remember that the vacant, blighted property is brought to you by Mayor Stan Thurston, Councilmember Mike Murphy, Councilmember Tony Dossetti, and Councilmember Josh Pedrozo.

Merced City Council to Consider Repeal of Popular Tenant Protection Law

By Dean Preston

Merced's new mayor, Stan Thurston, is seeking to re-open the floodgates to mass evictions by banks and investors acquiring foreclosed properties in Merced. The Mayor is leading efforts to repeal Merced's Just Cause for Eviction law that protects renters after foreclosure.

The city council is expected to vote this evening whether to repeal the law. 

Since December, arbitrary evictions of tenants after foreclosure have been outlawed under Merced's just cause for eviction law. The law applies to foreclosed properties and prohibits evictions of renters unless there is specific cause (like nonpayment of rent, nuisance, owner move-in, etc) for the eviction. Foreclosure alone is not grounds for eviction of tenants under the ordinance.

While local officials across the state are looking for ways to protect their residents from national banks, Mayor Thurston stands out as a local official who is actively looking for ways to make it easier for banks to evict more tenants in his community. His predecessors passed a law that, without costing the city a dime, stops post-foreclosure evictions of innocent renters, and one of his first acts as mayor has been to try to repeal that law.

The repeal effort has prompted widespread criticism. The law's supporters include not just tenant rights groups, but labor and other allies. Most recently, the local chapter of UDW, the homecare workers union, issued a letter supporting the law. Other allies will testify alongside tenants at this evening's repeal hearing.

The law is protecting families from unfair evictions, something that apparently upsets the Mayor and his real estate cronies. Realtors appear to be the only group pushing for the repeal. They have found an ally in the ultra-conservative mayor, himself a landlord.

One family's plight was recently featured in an article in the Merced Sun-Star. The Contreras family has lived in their Merced home for six years, faithfully paying the rent every month while their landlord failed to make mortgage payments. After their landlord's foreclosure, a Sacramento-based speculator immediately tried to kick the family out of their home for no reason, but with the help of Tenants Together and the new Just Cause for Eviction law, the family is asserting their right to stay in the home.

This repeal effort is truly the worst of special interest politics. Let's hope at least one of the new councilmembers (Mike Murphy or Tony Dossetti) sides with the residents of Merced who put them in office, rather than national banks and their realtors who are responsible for the evictions, vacancies and blight.

New HUD Regulations to Ban Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Tenants Together applauds the new HUD regulations that will help stop discrimination in federally assisted/insured housing on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. This is a major step toward ensuring fair access to housing free of arbitrary discrimination.

The final rule, which will take effect in 30 days, does the following, as described in the HUD press release:

Requires owners and operators of HUD-assisted housing, or housing whose financing is insured by HUD, to make housing available without regard to the sexual orientation or gender identity of an applicant for, or occupant of, the dwelling, whether renter- or owner-occupied. HUD will institute this policy in its rental assistance and homeownership programs, which include the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance programs, community development programs, and public and assisted housing programs.

Prohibits lenders from using sexual orientation or gender identity as a basis to determine a borrower’s eligibility for FHA-insured mortgage financing. FHA’s current regulations provide that a mortgage lender’s determination of the adequacy of a borrower’s income “shall be made in a uniform manner without regard to” specified prohibited grounds. The rule will add actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity to the prohibited grounds to ensure FHA-approved lenders do not deny or otherwise alter the terms of mortgages on the basis of irrelevant criteria.

Clarifies that all otherwise eligible families, regardless of marital status, sexual orientation, or gender identity, will have the opportunity to participate in HUD programs. In the majority of HUD’s rental and homeownership programs the term “family” already has a broad scope, and includes a single person and families with or without children. HUD’s rule clarifies that otherwise eligible families may not be excluded because one or more members of the family may be an LGBT individual, have an LGBT relationship, or be perceived to be such an individual or in such relationship.

Prohibits owners and operators of HUD-assisted housing or housing insured by HUD from asking about an applicant or occupant’s sexual orientation and gender identity for the purpose of determining eligibility or otherwise making housing available. In response to comments on the proposed rule, HUD has clarified this final rule to state that this provision does not prohibit voluntary and anonymous reporting of sexual orientation or gender identity pursuant to state, local, or federal data collection requirements.

SF Mayor Appoints Tenants Together Honoree Kent Qian as Rent Board Commissioner

Kent Qian, an attorney at the National Housing Law Project, will soon be the newest member of the San Francisco Rent Board Commission. Kent is an impressive housing attorney and a strong ally of Tenants Together. At our annual event in 2011, we honored Kent for his outstanding work to protect renters in foreclosed properties.

We commend San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee for his decision to appoint Kent to the Rent Board. Kent will hold one of two Tenant Alternate seats on the Commission. He is scheduled to be sworn in this Thursday, January 5, 2012, at SF City Hall.

Smart, hardworking and firmly committed to housing justice, Kent is the perfect person to represent San Francisco tenants on the Rent Board.

Congratulations to Kent for this well-deserved appointment!