Author: berkeleytenants

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2401 Warring
2401 Warring

We at the Berkeley Tenants Union need your support on Tuesday, December 9 at the City Council meeting.

First, Council are considering a suggestion to tax the benefits of rent control on any long time tenant the government decides is earning a living wage. (Item 17)

Also, BTU members have appealed a dangerous decision by the Zoning Board which would set bad precedent and put over 4,000 units in Berkeley at risk. (Item 39)

Both items are expected to be near the beginning of the meeting, as early as 7:30 PM. Council meetings take place in Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

2401 Warring Street Appeal by Harr and Stephens

This is the latest in a series of disputes BTU has fought at the Zoning Board – at the core is the interpretation of the Demolition Ordinance. In this case, a huge building on Warring near Channing has been under rent control for many years because it was used as a boarding house. Now, a new owner has removed all the renters and wants to turn it into a triplex. Rent Board staff and the owner appeared at the Zoning Board in the summertime. BTU was there as well. Everyone – even the owner Nathan George – seemed to agree that it was fair that one of the triplex units would be new construction because the owner is adding a lot of space, but that the other two units needed to stay under rent control.

Yet when the decision was written up by the staff from the Planning department, they chose to word the agreement in a way that would be legally unenforceable. This can get complex, but the gist of it is that Planning wants to give the building a new certificate of occupancy, and state law Costa Hawkins says a new COO means no rent control.

This is not what the Zoning Board intended. So BTU members Katherine Harr and Lisa Stephens filed an appeal.

Once again, the City Attorney is saying the units are empty and therefore not rent controlled units under the Demolition Ordinance. This means any building where the landlord can get the tenants out could easily be torn down with no mitigations for the loss of rent controlled housing.

The City is also saying that although Planning was aware that the building was a boarding house, it was not licensed to be one. This opens up over 4,000 units that have rent control but are not in Planning records as “permitted units” to lose rent control because they, too, could get a new certificate of occupancy.

Means Testing

Yes, you heard us right: the Housing Advisory Commission has asked Council to begin the process of means testing rent controlled tenants. Item 17 on the City Council agenda for Tuesday is the first step toward a plan by certain bitter property owners and the Council majority to tax middle income renters on their low rents.

“One approach we believe should be explored is to determine if some of the long term tenants in Berkeley’s rent controlled housing have been enjoying low rents while their incomes have been rising,” they wrote. There are many disturbing things about the proposal: the underlying assumption that rent control is a charity program and only the very poor deserve housing stability; the invasive nature of the proposal wherein longer term renters would be forced to disclose their income while owners do not have to do so; and the idea that measuring only income and rent would give the government any idea who can afford to pay more for housing, without considering medical bills, student tuition or student loans, number of dependents or other factors.

While BTU is pretty sure portions of the plan are actually illegal, and we expect the Rent Board will work to educate Council on that aspect, we need renters to stand together to show that local efforts to whittle away tenant protections and pit lower income folks against teachers, firefighters and small business owners making mid-range salaries will not be tolerated. Means testing would make Berkeley a city of just the very rich and very poor – just what rent stabilization was designed to prevent!

This type of proposal would never have been considered in the progressive Berkeley of the past and is clearly retaliation against tenants for supporting the “Robin Hood” ballot measures to tax owners of multiple rental units on their profits under vacancy decontrol.

JOIN US TUESDAY at CITY COUNCIL – items are early on the agenda

RSVP to info at berkeley tenants dot org to learn the plan!

Council Item 17
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Clerk/City_Council/2014/12_Dec/City_Council__12-09-2014_-_Regular_Meeting_Agenda.aspx

Warring Street Appeal

Council Item 23
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Clerk/City_Council/2014/12_Dec/City_Council__12-09-2014_-_Regular_Meeting_Agenda.aspx

By Posted on Posted in Issues
Photo Courtesy of McCormick 4 Council
Photo Courtesy of McCormick 4 Council

After a vote of the Steering Committee, The Berkeley Tenants Union sent this letter to the East Bay Express on Thursday, October 9.

Jacquelyn McCormick is endorsed by the Berkeley Tenants Union because she is the only District 8 candidate to unequivocally support renters rights.

D8 candidate Mike Cohen just told the Berkeley Property Owners Association that he supports “means testing” – taking away rent control for anyone the government decides isn’t poor enough. Although we were impressed by candidate George Beier at our September 21 endorsements meeting when he cited specific occasions in which he had assisted renters in his neighborhood, Beier also told the landlords that he would consider means testing.

Your pick, Lori Droste, showed she is not ready for prime time by writing that she “would like to have more information on the ordinance” when asked if she supports rent control. If you don’t have knowledge about tenant protections in a city where 62% are renters, you should not serve on the City Council.

Rent control prevents speculators from making obscene profits and allows those without high incomes to live here long enough to become part of our community. Jacquelyn McCormick is only the “most conservative candidate” for District 8 if, by conservative, you mean that she wants Berkeley to remain an economically and socially diverse city.

See candidate’s responses to questions from BTU and Berkeley Citizens Action here:
https://www.berkeleytenants.org/?p=1145

East Bay Express: Vote Campbell Washington, Droste, Maio, Worthington, and Echols
“But we strongly oppose candidate Jacquelyn McCormick, because she backs Measure R and is the most conservative candidate running for Berkeley City Council this year.”
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/vote-campbell-washington-droste-maio-worthington-and-echols/Content?oid=4092084

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Berkeley Tenants Union had a good turnout at our first endorsements forum in many many years. Please read candidate responses to the joint questionnaire sent by Berkeley Tenants Union and Berkeley Citizen Action to learn more about why the members who voted on Sunday chose these excellent candidates!

Please be sure to support these candidates – they are the best to further the issues that impact Berkeley Tenants. BTU will send you more info on how to get involved alongside other tenants and our friends as the campaign season moves along!

The Pro-Rent Control Slate, chosen at the 2014 Tenant Convention
Chang, Harr, Laverde-Levine, Selawsky and Townley
http://berkeleyrentboard.org/

Tony Thurmond, State Assembly
http://www.tonythurmond.com/

Alejandro Soto-Vigil, District One
http://sotovigil2014.com/

Jesse Arreguin, District Four
http://www.jessearreguin.com/

Kriss Worthington, District 7
http://www.worthingtonworks2014.com/

Jacquelyn McCormick, District 8
http://www.mccormick4council.com/

Ty Alper, School Board
http://tyalper.org/

Karen Hemphill, School Board
http://karenhemphill.home.comcast.net/~karenhemphill/

For Berkeley Citizen Action’s endorsements, please visit their Website:
http://berkeleycitizensaction.org/

Candidate Questionnaires:

School Board 2014 Responses BCA BTU

City Council 2014 Responses BCA BTU

Assembly 2014 Responses BCA BTU

By Posted on Posted in Actions

FREE 2014 Candidate Forum
Sunday, September 21, 3:30-6:30pm
Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar Street

Linda Maio Declined the Tenants Union Invitation
Linda Maio Declined the Tenants Union Invitation

Berkeley Tenants Union, along with Berkeley Citizen Action and the Social Justice Committee of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, will hold a forum for candidates in the 2014 election on Sunday September 21 – it being at 3:30 SHARP!

Only longstanding Council Person Linda Maio (District 1) and District 8 candidate M. Alvarez Cohen declined to attend the event. Assembly candidates Echols and Thurmond will be there for us to get to know, plus all School Board candidates and all the other Council hopefuls.

Meet the candidates and hear their ideas! After the speeches, BTU and BCA members will remain to discuss ballot initiatives and vote on endorsements (separate ballots).

Here are Responses to the BTU / BCA Joint Questionnaire

School Board 2014 Responses BCA BTU

City Council 2014 Responses BCA BTU

Assembly 2014 Responses BCA BTU

 

By Posted on Posted in Actions

September-2014-Calendar-Printable-132Berkeley Tenants Union, along with Berkeley Citizen Action and the Social Justice Committee of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, will hold a forum for candidates in the 2014 election on Sunday September 21. Meet the candidates and hear their ideas! After the speeches, BTU and BCA members will remain to vote on endorsements (separate ballots). https://www.facebook.com/events/1491931991054041/

At BTU we’re very excited to get to know newcomers like Lori Droste and Sean Barry – and find out what they plan to do for tenants, or for landlords, or for real estate developers. So we are sending a few questions to the candidates and will be posting replies here on the website from Berkeley City Council, School Board, and candidates for the state Assembly.

2014 Candidate Forum
Sunday, September 21, 3:30-5:30pm
Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar Street
SAVE THE DATE

By Posted on Posted in Issues

Average rent in San Francisco jumped 19% this year.

“Priceonomics puts the median price of a San Francisco apartment renting today at $3,600, up from $3,023 last year. Studios are fetching $2,300, one-bedrooms come in at $3,120, the median two-bedroom costs $4,000, and three-bedrooms are going for $4,795.”
http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2014/08/14/colorcoding_san_franciscos_totally_bonkers_rental_market.php

Rent Prices Are Going Up, But Your Income Isn't. Original chart with data source: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/06/rental-affordability-crisis-hud
Rent Prices Are Going Up, But Your Income Isn’t. Original chart with data source: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/06/rental-affordability-crisis-hud

“The numbers are a good indicator of why any eviction from a rent-controlled unit today is also an eviction from San Francisco entirely: prices are just too damn high to find a new apartment at a comparable rate.”
http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2014/08/13/san-francisco-rent-explosion-median-rent-two-bedroom-apartment-tops-4k

It’s a national problem: the foreclosure crisis made former owners into renters, the federal government cut housing assistance, and now more than 28% of Americans pay more than half of their salaries for rent.
Mother Jones: National Data on Rising Rents
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/06/rental-affordability-crisis-hud

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Recently, San Francisco leaders changed the Ellis relocation payments law: speculators who buy a building to “go out of the rental business” will have to pay tenants the difference between their current rent and the market rent – times 24! Naturally, landlords have filed a lawsuit.

Now, SF activists are fighting the Ellis crisis with a ballot measure they call an “Anti-Speculation Tax.” The tax was first proposed by activist Supervisor Harvey Milk around the time that San Francisco got rent control – over 30 years ago! Today, SF’s Prop G is sponsored by four members of the Board of Supervisors and would impose a tax on buildings sold in the first five years after purchase, but exempt owner-occupied homes.

“Prop G would tax the entire value of the building, beginning at 24 percent if sold within one year of purchase. The rate would be less after each successive year, falling to 14 percent if sold five years out. It would not apply to owner-occupied buildings, so as long as the buyer moved into the property they could sell it within five years and not face the tax.”
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=69972

“…Additional Transfer Tax on Residential Property Sold Within 5 Years of Purchase seeks to discourage real estate speculators from buying up properties with the aim of flipping them, a process that tends to involve bringing down the hammer of the Ellis Act to evict long-term tenants.”
http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2014/08/12/who-will-san-francisco-dems-back-november

 “The anti-speculation tax — which would be 24 percent of the sale price if resold within the first year of purchase and drop to 14 percent if resold within five years — was the among the final pieces of legislation that Supervisor Harvey Milk pushed before he was assassinated in 1978.”
http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/sf-tenants-rally-for-support-of-proposition-g/Content?oid=2879961

“The law, which went into effect June 1, requires landlords to give tenants in Ellis Act evictions a relocation assistance payment equal to two years’ worth of the difference between the tenant’s current rent and the cost of comparable housing in the city.”
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/08/22/judge-refuses-to-block-sf-law-increasing-relocation-payments-to-evicted-tenants-trial-put-on-fast-track/

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The 2014 Rent Board Slate: (left to right) John Selawsky, Paola LaVerde, Katherine Harr, and James Chang. Not pictured: Jesse Townley
The 2014 Rent Board Slate: (left to right) John Selawsky, Paola LaVerde, Katherine Harr, and James Chang. Not pictured: Jesse Townley

The Berkeley Tenant Convention on Sunday July 13 chose the five candidates most Highly Recommended by the Berkeley Tenants Union screener: incumbents Jesse Townley and Katherine Harr, former School Board Director John Selawsky, and first-time candidates Paola LaVerde and James Chang. Selawsky, Harr, and Chang all serve on the BTU steering committee.

Daily Californian Celebrates Student Candidate
“I’m talking about fighting for the soul of Berkeley,” Chang said at the convention. “In Berkeley, student issues are community issues, and community issues are student issues.” http://www.dailycal.org/2014/07/13/pro-tenant-slate-chosen-berkeley-rent-board-race/

More Information on the Convention:
http://berkeleytenantsconvention.net/

In Other News

Berkeley City Council Passes NAACP Recommendations
“Ultimately, these measures will not be enough. They are a set of steps to stop the bleeding of lower-income residents from Berkeley, many of whom are people of color. But in the long run, the only effective way to combat gentrification is through the strict application of rent control.”
http://www.dailycal.org/2014/07/14/berkeley-housing-vote-step-right-direction-miles-still-go/

No Rent Control? No Security Against Displacement!
“When one unit in the predominantly artist-occupied complex was put on the market a couple months ago, an attorney who had her eye on the space offered to pay $2,650, or $300 above the rental listing price. The landlord, one of the original developers of the complex in 1990, accepted the offer. Wells’ landlord, who had recently inherited the property, got word of the unprecedented demand, and notified her that her rent would be raised as well, from $2,200 to $2,650 — a 20 percent increase — effective in September. Wells, and another tenant whose rent was also increased, have no choice but to leave.”
http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/07/03/is-the-tech-boom-putting-pressure-on-berkeley-rents/

No Dogs Allowed
“Rental search startup Lovely reports that just 17 percent of the rental apartments on their site specifically indicate that dogs are accepted, compared with 40 percent in Los Angeles and 48 percent in Chicago.”
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Pet-owners-struggle-as-fewer-S-F-landlords-allow-5603191.php

Demolition Evictions in SF up 300%
“…evictions for things like owner move-ins, demolitions and withdrawal of units from the rental market rose dramatically last year to 673.”
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/03/24/rent-board-report-san-francisco-demolition-evictions-up-300-percent/

By Posted on Posted in Actions

This Sunday the 2014 Rent Board Convention will choose the pro-tenant slate for the fall election.

BTU joined community groups like the Peace and Freedom Party, Berkeley Citizen Action, and Grey Panthers in sending someone to interview the candidates and rank them according to their responses to the interview and the questionnaires. Here are the BTU screener’s ratings (click to enlarge)!

JOIN US SUNDAY at 1:30 PM at 2939 Ellis (corner of Ashby)

The World Cup will be on in the lounge at the Center starting at noon!
Childcare provided during the convention.

See candidate questionnaires on the convention website:
http://berkeleytenantsconvention.net/?page_id=38

Daily Californian on the upcoming convention:
“Sid Lakireddy, president of the Berkeley Property Owners Association… ‘There is a sentiment amongst board members that all property owners and landowners should not be in business and property should be free,’ he said.”
http://www.dailycal.org/2014/07/08/6-candidates-compete-berkeleys-dominant-rent-board-slate/