April 17, 2024—Public Advocates Senior Staff Attorney Suzie Dershowitz spoke with AP Reporter TRÂN NGUYỄN about SB 1201, the Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) Owner Transparency Act, and her personal experience trying to unravel a web of LLCs to hold the owners of a dilapidated building accountable. “The practice of operating business anonymously is prevalent in many California industries, proponents of the bill said. In Oakland, after city officials condemned a dilapidated building rented out to low-income immigrant families, the city attorney’s office spent more than a year investigating a ..read more

April 6, 2024 – Public Advocates’ Director of Legislative Affairs, Michelle Pariset, spoke with CalMatters reporter Jeanne Kuang, on new legislation that would put in protections for LIHTC (Low Income Housing Tax Credit) buildings and correcting details on LIHTC and legislation from a former story. Currently, low-income renters who live in these affordable are not subject to renter protections for neighbors living in market rate housing. On April 3, 2024, the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee passed a rule that new landlords of LIHTC buildings could not raise rents by more than 1 ..read more

California’s Tenant Protection Act (AB 1482) provides basic protections for renters against extreme rent increases and unfair evictions. A new law (SB 567) makes important changes that take effect April 1, 2024. Read more about renters’ rights in California under this new law.   The post Renters’ Rights under the Tenant Protection Act (2024) appeared first on Public Advocates ..read more

March 18, 2024—Streetsblog SF’s Roger Rudick covers the launch of Senate Bill 1031, the Connect Bay Area Act, that would authorize the Bay area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) to move forward on a regional funding measure. The measure would “generate a minimum of $750 million per year in revenue to stabilize transit systems’ operations, avoid service cuts, and make service better, plus additional funds to improve roadways  and other physical transportation projects.” “We look forward to working with the legislature to guarantee sufficient funding for transit, progressive re ..read more

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 21, 2024 Media Contact: Sumeet Bal, Director of Communications, sbal@publicadvocates.org, 917.647.1952 PRESS RELEASE 35,000 AFFORDABLE HOMES LEFT ON TABLE DURING STATE HOUSING CRISIS Fifteen Months Past Due, Wealthiest Cities, Counties Fail to Adopt Legally Required Affordable Housing Action Plans San Francisco—Today Public Advocates and Public Interest Law Project, non-profit civil rights law firms, sent inquiry letters to 39 jurisdictions that are over one year behind in adopting a legally compliant Housing Element—an essential affordable housing action plan. Ove ..read more

March 20, 2024 – Public Advocates Managing Attorney for the Education Equity team, John Affeldt joined education experts Amber Arellano from The Education Trust-Midwest, Ericka Weathers, from the University of Pennsylvania and host Emily Richmond at SXSW in Austin, Texas for a special live episode of Educations Writers Association Radio to discuss concentrated poverty in communities and how to evaluate school funding formulas created to address the problem. Signed into law in 2013, California’s Local Control Funding Formula, one of the boldest public education experiments any state has ever ..read more

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 18, 2024 Media Contact: Sumeet Bal, Director of Communications, Public Advocates, sbal@publicadvocates.org, 917.647.1952 PRESS RELEASE TRANSFORMATIVE TRANSIT BILL INTRODUCED WITH RIDER, WORKER AND COMMUNITY PRIORITIES Advocates call for increased transit service, climate and equity investments San Francisco–Today Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Senator Aisha Wahab (D-Hayward) introduced the “Connect Bay Area Act,” SB 1031, to provide sustainable operating funding for Bay Area public transit through a regional ballot measure slated for the 2026 election. T ..read more

FINANCE MANAGER / SENIOR FINANCE MANAGER – PUBLIC ADVOCATES INC.Location: CA-Based Location Flexible (Remote/Hybrid with Limited Travel) Status: Exempt, Full-Time Salary: Finance Manager $80,000-$90,000; Senior Finance Manager $90,000-$110,000 ABOUT PUBLIC ADVOCATESFor more than 50 years, Public Advocates Inc. has been on the frontlines of social justice movements in California, making rights real. As a bold and highly regarded nonprofit law firm and advocacy organization that challenges the systemic causes of poverty and racial discrimination, we pride ourselves on our ability to skillfully d ..read more

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday March 11, 2024 Press Contact: Jeff Perlstein, Urban Habitat (415) 225-6673 Sumeet Bal, Public Advocates (917) 647-1952 Priced-Out Renters in Affordable Housing Organize for Change, State Regulators Meet Tuesday for a Public Hearing New report sheds light on why renters in for-profit affordable housing are advocating for stronger protections and better living conditions Sacramento, Calif.— A new report, The Failure of For-Profit Affordable Housing and How Tenants Are Organizing for Change, exposes how for-profit developers are exploiting a loophole in state law to i ..read more

February 29, 2024—IE’s Community News’ Manny Sandoval spoke with Public Advocates’ School Bond Financing Complainant and student, Angel Orozco, about his  participation to address disparities in School funding for facilities specifically in the San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD). Public Advocates, pro bono counsel Goodwin Procter LLP, and impacted students, families, residents, and grassroots community organizations from across the state demanded the state end its highly discriminatory system for funding school facilities or face a lawsuit challenging this fall’s an ..read more