Housing organizers call for renter protections in Vallejo

VALLEJO – Affordable housing advocates called for the city of Vallejo to commit to stronger renter protections like rent control and a just cause eviction ordinance at a rally in front of Vallejo City Hall on Tuesday.

Advocates with the Vallejo Housing Justice Coalition, which organized Tuesday’s rally, said they’re hopeful that newly elected officials will push for stronger policies for renters to address homelessness and poverty in a county which stands apart from several other Bay Area counties for not having rent control ordinances. 

Cristal Gallegos, the coalition’s director, said that the rally also took place at the same time as similar actions in 17 cities across the country – including Boston, Memphis and New Orleans – to demand rent control and eviction protections in order to prevent displacement of immigrants, people of color and working class communities. 

Gallegos said in an interview Tuesday that while Vallejo leaders have been resistant to rental protections in the past, some newly elected City Council members have expressed commitments to enacting those reforms. The city’s housing element, a state-mandated document to show the city’s efforts to encourage and plan for new housing developments for diverse communities, calls for rental protections but has been delayed for two years. 

Gallegos said the city’s newly elected leaders must work to rectify the damage done by this “shocking” delay. The coalition plans to present ordinances for consideration in the fall for citywide rent control and just cause eviction protection, she said.

“We have leaders here, impacted people, who can speak to their realities in a way nobody else can,” Gallegos said. She added that she wants to see councilmembers working with and talking to people in low-income, high-need communities to learn about their experiences. That includes talking to Solano County’s 13% population of Black residents, who make up about 26% of the county’s homeless residents, she added.

“Folks here need the one on one so they feel they belong,” she said. “Our people are incredibly capable but have not had access to the same resources.”

Former business owner Izzy Drumgoole said she’s one of those impacted residents recovering from hard times and scarce resources. While her family now has stable housing, she said that during the pandemic they spent years adrift and couch-surfing. 

Between 2014-2022, Drumgoole lived in a mixed-use building which fell on hard times during the COVID-19 pandemic. When the owners liquidated their properties, she said she faced eviction under the new ownership and realized she was not protected as a tenant in Solano County. 

“It’s the wild wild West in Solano County. It’s very much in favor of the landlords,” Drumgoole said. She said that as a single mother with six children, having spent years wondering if she would end up in an encampment, she now wants to help others avoid that situation.

“With [the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Medicare in jeopardy, it’s such an impending doom feeling,” she added, referring to cuts to federal agencies under the Trump administration. “If people have an issue with encampments and people that are unhoused, the best thing is to try to work together as a community to keep people in homes.”

Mayor Andrea Sorce called for the city to enact tenant protection ordinances during a City Council meeting Monday when asking city staff for a timeline to create “broader preparedness for affordable housing projects.” She encouraged city staff to engage with affordable housing advocates to study and add to the current citywide housing strategy.

“We have a requirement in our Housing Element to put in a couple of tenant protection ordinances, inclusionary zoning, by September,” Sorce said. 

Gallegos, speaking to a crowd of about 25 gathered outside City Hall on Tuesday afternoon, reminded residents that millions of dollars are spent to further property owners’ interests in politics. She said that between 2017-2011 the California Apartment Association spent nearly $7 million on lobbying and $140 million on funding candidates and ballots. 

The coalition has taken inspiration from work done in other cities around the Bay, particularly Oakland. Oakland has significant protections in place for renters, including limitations for rent increases and the Oakland Tenants Union, and is considered one of the most progressive cities in the state on housing reform. Gallegos said she thinks Vallejo could move in that direction under new leadership, if elected officials follow through on their verbal commitments to addressing housing insecurity.