Here is the zoom webinar link for the follow up forum today

When: Sep 19, 2020 05:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Topic: Follow up Community Forum/Segundo Foro Comunitario – September 19th

Please click the link below to join the webinar:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88179054175?pwd=VURoWnBVS0FOWkZlb0Q1ODkrS1podz09

Passcode: 201691

Or iPhone one-tap : 

    US: +16699009128,,88179054175#,,,,,,0#,,201691#  or +13462487799,,88179054175#,,,,,,0#,,201691# 

Or Telephone:

    Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):

        US: +1 669 900 9128  or +1 346 248 7799  or +1 253 215 8782  or +1 646 558 8656  or +1 301 715 8592  or +1 312 626 6799 

Webinar ID: 881 7905 4175

Passcode: 201691

The follow up forum to discuss rental and eviction issues will be held on September 19th. If you are a tenant, please fill out this survey which will give us updated data to present at the forum:

Google Docs Survey Link

To register for the forum, follow this link (The Zoom link will also be posted here the day of the forum)

Registration Link

El segundo foro comunitario para discutir los problemas de rentas y desalojos será el 19 de Septiembre. Por favor llenen este cuestionario para que se tenga mas datos que presentar durante el foro:

Cuestionario en Google Docs

Para inscribirse al foro, esta es la liga (y la liga Zoom se publicara en este sitio el día del foro)

Liga de Inscripción

The follow up forum to discuss rental and eviction issues will be held on September 19th. More detailed information will be sent closer to the date.

El segundo foro comunitario para discutir los problemas de rentas y desalojos será el 19 de Septiembre. Se mandará más información cerca de la fecha.

Are you a Mountain View resident who is worried about eviction?

About this Event

Community Discussion – Avoiding Mass Evictions

Organized by the Mountain View Tenants Coalition with support from the Manzanita Coalition

COVID-19 has eliminated many jobs that families in Mountain View need to pay rent. This puts some of the most vulnerable families at risk of eviction and homelessness. Come learn what other communities have done to allow residents to continue to safely shelter in place in their homes. Let’s discuss solutions we would like to see implemented in Mountain View. 

Register here

Creando Estrategias – Previniendo Desalojos Masivos

Organizado por el Mountain View Tenants Coalition con apoyo de Manzanita Coalition

COVID-19 ha eliminado muchos trabajos que las familias en Mountain View necesitan para pagar el alquiler. Esto pone a algunas de las familias más vulnerables en riesgo de desalojo y falta de vivienda.Venga a conocer lo que otras comunidades han hecho para permitir que los residentes continúen refugiándose de manera segura en sus hogares. Analicemos las soluciones que nos gustaría ver implementadas en Mountain View.

Inscríbete aquí

Friends and neighbors of the Mountain View tenant coalition, this survey is to collect information on your current housing status. Your responses will help determine the next steps in our fight. The results will be discussed in the tenants forum (zoom) on August 8.Your collaboration is essential to clarify the true situation of our community.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR BEING INSPIRATION IN THE FIGHT.
Yes you can!
Amigos y vecinos de la coalicion de inquilinos de Mountain View, esta encuesta es para recopilar información de su estado actual de vivienda. Sus respuestas ayudaran a determinar los siguientes pasos en nuestra lucha. Los resultados seran discutidos en el foro de inquilinos (zoom) el dia 8 de agosto.Su colaboracion es indispensable para esclarecer la verdadera situacion de nuestra comunidad.
MUCHAS GRACIAS POR SER INSPIRACION EN LA LUCHA.
Si se puede!

Survey-Encuesta Link

A fraudulent signature gathering operation was witnessed this weekend in Mountain View in an attempt to put a measure on the ballot to repeal all renter protections in MV. Landlord-hired signature gatherers were seen at the Spring parade, local churches and grocery stores trying to dupe people into signing the deceptively titled “Mountain View Homeowner, Renter and Taxpayer Protection Initiative.” Some called it an expansion of rent control, some seemed unaware of the fraud they were perpetrating, others were honest that it was a repeal of Measure V. In a video, one signature gatherer stated that she was being paid. The going rate is $6 for a signature, $8 for getting it by knocking on doors. Given what has gone on in Alameda, Pacifica, Richmond and Santa Rosa, the deception is not surprising. Some of the Pacifica signature gatherers now face criminal charges.

MVTC members were able to stop some of these folks from having much success by simply standing nearby with a sign and urging people not to sign the petition for the “sneaky repeal” of rent control. We urge other folks to do the same, and to pass out these flyers:

Click here for the Dont Sign flyer in SPANISH

Click here for the Dont Sign flyer in ENGLISH

We estimate that they will need to collect around 10,000 signatures by mid June. Be ready for any aggressive, fraudulent behavior, as seen in other cities. It is illegal for them to misrepresent what they are gathering signatures for. They are required by law to state their names and whether they are being paid or not.

Learn more about the “sneaky repeal” –

Mayor calls proposed ballot measure a ‘sneak’ repeal of rent control

BY ALLISON LEVITSKY
Daily Post Staff Writer

“Mountain View Mayor Lenny Siegel says a ballot measure proposed by a group backed by landlords would effectively repeal the city’s year-old rent control law.

The measure would suspend rent control when more than 3% of the city’s rental housing supply is vacant — which, Siegel pointed out, it always is.

“The vacancy rate never goes below 3%, so the just cause eviction and rent control elements of the charter amendment would never apply, and so that’s why I call it a sneaky repeal,” Siegel told the Post. “They’ve got a whole lot of smoke and mirrors there.””

PRESS CONTACT: Steve Chandler / (650) 776-4071 / steve@stevenchandler.com

Residents Defend Recently-Enacted Rent Stabilization Protections, Urge Voters Not to Sign Deceptively Titled “Mountain View Homeowner, Renter and Taxpayer Protection Initiative” 

Mountain View, CA– Today 18 residents of Mountain View filed a complaint with the City Attorney alleging that a recently proposed landlord initiative is rife with misleading statements and inaccuracies.  The complaint demands that the City Attorney reject the proposed initiative unless the landlord campaign corrects the falsehoods.

“We know that the landlord lobby will stop at nothing to protect their profits, including by lying to voters,” said Trevoli Welsh, one of the signatories of the complaint.  “Our rent stabilization program is fully funded by a nominal fee on landlords and is actually expected to come in underbudget this year.  Yet the landlord campaign is based on using fear-mongering about the alleged cost of the program, when the truth is that it protects over 30,000 residents at no cost to taxpayers.  That’s a bargain price to ensure that teachers, nurses, first responders and our neighbors can afford to stay in our community and thrive.”

In November 2016, Mountain View voters approved Measure V, instituting one of the first new rent stabilization programs in California in over 30 years.  Over 15,000 households in Mountain View have since enjoyed protections against massive rent hikes and no-cause evictions.  The complaint was filed in response to an initiative submitted by landlords that seek to upend those new protections.

 “Let’s be clear, this initiative is the landlords’ attempt to kill tenant protections in Mountain View,” said Kara Sanchez, another of the signatories of the complaint. “They lost the election less than two years ago, and this is nothing more than an attempt at a sneaky repeal of the voters’ decision to protect the diversity of Mountain View.”

Depending on the outcome of the complaint, the next step for the landlord initiative is to gather the signatures necessary to qualify for the ballot.

 Landlord campaigns to overturn rent control have faced widespread allegations of misconduct during signature gathering campaigns across the state in recent years.  Signature-gathering drives backed by landlord trade groups like the California Apartment Association have been criticized for employing paid signature-gatherers who have misrepresented petitions in order to obtain signatures in Richmond, Santa Rosa, Pacifica, and Alameda.  Just last month, the District Attorney of San Mateo County filed twenty-one felony charges against signature gatherers financed by the California Apartment Association for forging signatures in a Pacifica anti-rent control campaign.

“We want to spread the word to voters about the truth of this initiative,” said Heather Phipps, another person who signed the complaint.  “We urge voters not to sign this ‘Landlord Profit Protection Act.’  Our new tenant protections are an important part of the puzzle in addressing the housing crisis in Mountain View. The landlord initiative is an attack on the people who help make our town strong, it’s an attack on Mountain View as a Human Rights City.  Don’t sign the landlord petition!”

When we won the lawsuit in April 2017, many landlords in Mountain View complied with the rollback and lowered tenants’ rent (to October 2015 levels), starting in May 2017.  Now that the CSFRA effective date of December 23, 2016 has been acknowledged, however, the rollback should have been in effect for January, February, March and April of 2017 too. Tenants who paid their higher rent in those four months are entitled to reimbursement for the amount they overpaid.

For example, assume your rent in October 2015 was $1,800/month, but in April 2017 it was $2,100. If your landlord was complying with the law, he probably lowered your rent back to $1800/month starting in May. But now he should pay you back for the four months of 2017 that you paid the $2,100. He should pay you back $1,200 (4 x $300)!! Click HERE to download a flyer with another example of this second rollback. (If your landlord didn’t give you the rollback starting in May, he owes you even more.)

You can ask your landlord to write you a check for the reimbursement. You can also make an arrangement with your landlord to reduce the rent you pay for a few months until you have recovered the amount you are owed.  Click HERE to download a sample letter you can send to your landlord asking for the reimbursement.

If your landlord refuses to give you this rollback, you have options! You can file a petition with the Rental Housing Committee, or file a case in small claims court.

There are FREE LAWYERS available to help you understand and enforce your rights. They may even be able to write the letter to your landlord for you and/or represent you in a case if your landlord does not comply. If you would like legal assistance, you can call either of these numbers:

• Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto (serves Mountain View): 650-391-0354
• Law Foundation of Silicon Valley (serves Mountain View): 408-280-2424

It is illegal for your landlord to retaliate against you for exercising your rights.

Download Flyer to Print Here!

Click here to download this flyer for printing.