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Comment

I am seeing more and more people facing homelessness due to exhorbitant rent increases. Friend who are 20 year renters in good standing have been dealing for months countering their elderly landlady’s daughter now managing the property. The landlady’s daughter is using every trick in the book, including intimidation and violating their lease to force them to vacate the property so she can raise the rent far beyond their means. They are a hardworking couple in the elderly caregiving profession. They are being advised by the Orange County renters rights agency and advocates. It is not clear that this landlady daughter will ever cease to harass them. We need stronger laws to protect our vital working people from being priced out of rental homes. Specifically, the following is needed;

Rent regulations: Protect tenants from and limit egregious rent hikes.
Good cause eviction: Prohibit evictions without good cause, ensuring every tenant has the right to a lease renewal. Good cause is defined as serious and repeated lease violations provable in a court of law.
Ban source of income discrimination: Prohibit landlords from discriminating against tenants based on their source of income including federal housing assistance (i.e., vouchers).
Freedom from discrimination: Enforce existing laws that prohibit landlords from denying a tenant rental housing based on race, physical or mental ability, and family make-up, and expand protections to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, immigration status, conviction and/or arrest history, bankruptcy history, eviction history, or credit score.
Safe, quality, accessible housing standards: Require all landlords to keep their properties in good condition, and to ensure homes are accessible for people with disabilities. No renter should have to live in an inaccessible home or in housing conditions that put their health and safety at risk.
Landlord registry: Tenants should have access to information about their landlord including their name and phone number.
Tenant right to organize: Tenants have the right to form tenants’ unions or resident councils free from fear of retaliation from the landlord or managing agent. Ownership and management representatives must not interfere with the creation or actions of tenant organizations.
Fair leases: Landlords must use standardized and clearly defined leases free of abusive terms.
Office of Tenant Protections: A team charged with protecting tenants and enforcing their rights in properties with federally backed mortgages.