Tenants Organize to Fight Landlord Harassment and
Looming Evictions

Elena Cruz is one of many tenants across California who have applied for and are anxiously awaiting rent relief, while bearing ongoing harassment and threats of eviction from her landlord. Her landlord has sent notes telling Cruz to pay the full debt now or get out, even though she is currently protected from eviction and he has refused to respond to the state rent relief application. He has also suggested he simply wants her family out so he can hike the rent to $5000 per month.

This has been her family’s home for 18 years. She has always paid her rent on time until she lost her job during the pandemic and fell behind nine months of rent. With Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco and the Southeast Tenant Association she is organizing with other tenants and neighbors preparing to fight looming rent debt, eviction from her long-time home, and homelessness as the statewide eviction protections are set to expire September 30th.
Real-estate backed politicians, including Governor Newsom, continue to fail tenants, so we will continue to organize with renters across the city and state to keep residents like Elena housed and in their communities. We need long-term solutions like real rent control and truly affordable housing that isn’t subject to ongoing real estate speculation, which means we must continue to grow the movement and build renter power despite all the lobbying dollars stacked against us. We outnumber them!