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Support Prop. 21 to Stop Evictions and Protect Historic Communities of Color

09.11.20
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By Anisha Hingorani, Manager of Equity in Community Investments 

Never has there been a more critical time to ensure communities’ right to safe, secure, and affordable housing. That is why we must vote yes on Proposition 21 this November. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has put incredible strain on low-income households. Black, Latinx, and Indigenous families working in the low-wage service sector have been hit especially hard by the economic fallout. A UC Berkeley study found that one million California renters have experienced job loss because of COVID-19. Over 1,600 households have been evicted since Governor Newsom declared a state of emergency in early March, and millions more are at risk of eviction in the absence of protective evictions moratoriums and housing stabilization measures.  

Local governments have provided some temporary relief by suspending a portion of rent payments or limiting evictions. Still, these are only temporary measures that will require renters to pay back past-due rents. Current and recently passed laws leave low-income renters of color, already rent-burdened and susceptible to minor rent increases, vulnerable to harassment and evictions.  

Rent control is an essential tool local governments have to buffer tenants from rising rents, combat displacement, and provide long-term housing stability to renters. 

In a renter-majority state like California, Prop 21 would give localities the ability to effectively implement rent control policies on residential properties over 15 years old and provide a lifeline to stabilize historic communities of color. This effort would slow the trend of Black, Native, and Latinx communities becoming houseless or displaced from their communities. Rent control, paired with tenant protection policies such as just-cause evictions, affordable housing preservation, and production, enhances low-income tenants’ ability to respond to the different contributors to housing instability. 

Contact Anisha Hingorani, Manager of Equity in Community Investments  

This November, Californians will consider a set of ballot measures that could reshape our state into a more just and equitable society for generations to come. Here are our endorsements, offered to help move California into that better tomorrow: