Pasadena City Hall Dome (Photo- ColoradoBlvd.net)
A coalition has been formed in response to unreasonable rent increases and evictions without cause which are causing Pasadena to lose its families, its diversity, and its key community members.
By Kate Bartlett
The Pasadena Tenant Justice Coalition (PTJC) is launching a campaign this morning advocating for rent and eviction protections in Pasadena. The campaign will focus on restricting rent increases to the rate of inflation and restricting the ability of landlords to evict tenants without cause. The PTJC will begin collecting petition signatures in Fall 2019 for the purpose of placing a referendum on the ballot November 3, 2020.
The PTJC press release stated the following:
PTJC has been formed to address the lack of tenant protections in Pasadena. The lack of these protection has resulted in escalating and unconscionable rents and the eviction of tenants who are in full observance of their lease obligations. These practices produce extreme housing instability for many tenants. Low and moderate income tenants of color have been especially hard hit by the City’s failure to control rents and its allowance of arbitrary evictions.
PTJC is committed to the principles of inclusion, racial, ethnic and language justice and to the promotion of the interests of the City’s renters, especially its lower income households. This commitment is grounded in the recognition that the City’s rapid gentrification results in the displacement of the City’s most vulnerable households and communities. PTJC opposes the City’s indifference to such displacement, and it values the rich cultural diversity of Pasadena.
The following organizations are the members of PTJC:
Pasadena Tenants Union (PTU), was formed in November 2016 as a grassroots movement. PTU defends and advances tenant solidarity for housing rights due to rent gouging and evictions without cause in Pasadena. PTU advocates for renter rights and tenant protections from displacement caused by gentrification. PTU believes housing is a human right and renters have an inalienable right to safe decent, stable and affordance housing.
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The Socialist Scientists of Pasadena (SSoP) is composed of student and post-doctoral researchers who rent in Pasadena. SSoP members recognize the importance of engaging with the community in which we live and participating through action as well as ideas. SSoP members believe democracy means more than voting; it requires active participation so that all aspects of community life—work, housing, recreation—are decided by the many, not the few.
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Affordable Housing Services (AHS) houses and advocates on behalf of Pasadena’s low and no income tenants, especially those presently rapidly and permanently displaced because of rising rents. AHS is committed especially to ensuring the prosperity of African American and Latino households whose parents survived the segregation, discrimination and restrictive covenants formerly endorsed by the City. AHS supports the 2020 initiative to enhance tenant protections and housing security, the adoption of which has been refused for too long by the City Council.
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The American Civil Liberties Union—Southern California (ACLU SoCal) and its Pasadena-Foothills Chapter are committed to economic and racial justice, as well as housing security for tenants. ACLU SC specifically endorses rent control as one tool for achieving tenant housing security and preserving affordable housing units. The Chapter applauds efforts to enhance tenant protections for Pasadena residents, and it joins in solidarity with PTJC partners to establish just cause eviction and rent control protections in the City.
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The Democratic Socialists of America Los Angeles (DSA-LA) seeks to facilitate the transition to a society based on the ideals of freedom, creativity, sustainability, justice, equality, and solidarity. DSA-LA has many issue-based committees; the Housing and Homelessness Committee has contributed labor to this campaign, recognizing the intrinsic link between homelessness and affordable housing.
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