PRESS CONF., Saturday, August 19, 12:30 p.m., Sequoia Room, Visalia Comfort Suites Convention Ctr.
169,702 signatures from voters in 19 counties that form the Central Valley helped get statewide rent control initiative on November 2024 ballot
VISALIA, CA (August 18, 2023) – A broad coalition of California renters, housing advocates, elected officials, and social justice organizations will host a press conference in Visalia, CA on Saturday, August 19th in support of the ‘Justice for Renters Act,’ a statewide ballot initiative that would remove California’s rent control ban and give local communities the right to stabilize rents and make apartments more affordable for low-income and middle-income renters. This is the first Justice for Renters event in the Central Valley, which, according to NBC News, has seen some of the steepest rent increases since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 with rents up 39.4% in Bakersfield, 38.4% in Visalia, 38% in Fresno, 35.3% in Merced, and 29.6% in Redding.
WHAT: ‘Justice for Renters Act’ Press Conference
WHEN: Saturday, August 19 at 12:30 p.m.
WHERE: Comfort Suites Visalia – Convention Center, The Sequoia Room
210 E. Acequia Ave, Visalia, CA 92391 (directly across from the Convention Center)
WHO:
Hon.Santos Garcia, Mayor, City of Madera
Hon. Verónica Vázquez, Councilmember, City of Delano
Art Rodriguez, Organizing Director, Central Valley Empowerment Alliance & Vice Chair of Renters Council
Carolyn Fowler, California Democratic Party Controller
Mari Ruiz Perez, Chair, California Renters’ Coun
Christine Pelosi, Tenant & DNC Member
Aide Hernandez, Tenant and DACA farmworker who dropped out of college to help parents pay rent
Ashley Rojas, Director, Indigenous Justice
Susie Shannon, Policy Director, Housing Is A Human Right (HHR) (press conf. emcee)
The Justice for Renters ballot campaign kicked off May 25th in Los Angeles. Backers held a press conference at Los Angeles City Hall to announce the submission of more than 218,000 Los Angeles County voter signatures to county election officials.
Advocates needed to collect at least 546,651 valid California voter signatures to qualify the measure. They collected more than 810,000 in total. 169,702 signatures from voters in 19 counties that form the Central Valley helped get statewide rent control initiative on November 2024 ballot.
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