California is a deep-blue state, with a
Democratic Governor
and a two-thirds super-majority in both houses of the legislature. It is the home to 15
million tenants in an
overheated rental market, and ground-zero in the nation’s
foreclosure crisis. Now
is the time to get real change for
tenants in the Golden State.
But when it comes to common-sense tenants
rights laws, too
many Democrats vote the wrong way.
They
take millions of dollars from the real estate lobby, which wields
clout in Sacramento. Even
some
“progressive” Democrats who represent deep-blue, urban districts
are not our
best allies.
In 2008, local tenant rights groups across the
state came
together to found California’s only statewide renters’ rights
organization, Tenants
Together. We are organizing the
state’s 15 million renters to bring about real change. We have made serious
strides to empower
tenants, particularly those living in foreclosed properties, and
in the 2012
legislative session won a clean sweep of all four bills that we
supported. Such bills
included stopping unfair
non-payment evictions after a change in ownership, requiring banks
to give all tenants
90-days notice after foreclosure and banning landlords from
imposing
online-only rent payment rules.
Now, we are focused on our
next fight: security deposit theft.
Every year, California tenants put hundreds of millions of
dollars into
their landlords’ hands – money they are supposed to get back upon
moving out. For many
tenants, this deposit is their
largest financial asset. But
improper
withholding by landlords has become so common, that most renters
that tenants
paying deposits don’t ever expect to see that money again. A Tenants Together
survey found 60% of our
members had their deposits improperly withheld.
Such blatant theft should not be tolerated.
SB 603, authored by State Senator Mark Leno
(D-San
Francisco), would address this problem by requiring landlords to
keep tenant
deposits in accounts separate from landlord’s assets, and by
imposing mandatory
penalties against landlords who fail to return deposits. The bill would also
require landlords to pay
tenants interest on security deposits, as is required in many
other states.
We can pass SB 603, with help from the broader
progressive
community. Winning on tenant’s rights issues helps millions of
lower-income
Californians achieve greater housing stability, with little to no
cost for
state and local governments, but we can only win by holding
Democratic leaders
accountable. On Tuesday, May 7th, the same day that SB
603 will be
heard in the State Senate Judiciary Committee, Tenants Together
will have a
Lobby Day in Sacramento – so that Senators can hear from tenants
who have been
directly affected.
The real estate industry has lobbyists every
day in the State
Capitol, many of whom are shameless about spreading misinformation
and trying
to intimidate Democratic legislators in voting against tenant
protections. With
your help, we can make sure that Sacramento
listens to the state’s 15 million renters – by voting “yes” on SB
603.
Send a letter to your Senator to urge them to
support SB 603
Our campaign websites feature educational
materials on
tenants' rights, tips on getting deposits back, the opportunity to
tell tenant
stories and get more involved:
YourDeposit.org
EsTuDinero.org
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There are many organizations supporting our
campaign. Are you
associated with an organization that would be interested
in endorsing?