Major Win for Mountain View Tenants

Photo by Nailah Morgank, KQED

Last November, voters in Mountain View passed Measure V, aimed at stabilizing rents and providing just cause eviction protections for certain rental units.

Following the vote, the California Apartment Association (CAA) moved to sue the City to block the law from going into effect. That’s when the Law Foundation, along with Fenwick & West, the Stanford Community Law Clinic, and the Public Interest Law Project, stepped in to represent a group of Mountain View voters, tenants, and organizations.

In a major win for Mountain View tenants, the CAA dropped the lawsuit earlier this month.

Mountain View tenants will now be protected from unreasonable rent increases and unjust evictions. “This is a complete victory for the City of Mountain View and a critical win for Mountain View residents, including the most marginalized in our community,” said Nadia Aziz, senior attorney at the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley. “We were thankful to have Fenwick’s excellent support in ensuring Mountain View tenants do not have to live in fear of unfair rent increases and evictions.”

Crucial Safety Net Services, Saved

Photo by Associated Press

Earlier today, a federal judge in San Francisco blocked the Trump administration's efforts to withhold funding from sanctuary jurisdictions, which refuse to act as an arm of federal immigration officials by detaining non-criminal immigrants. The decision was in response to lawsuits filed by the County of Santa Clara and City of San Francisco.

The Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, along with pro bono co-counsel at Cooley LLP, filed two amici curiae briefs in the matter,  on behalf of dozens of nonprofit organizations and associations throughout California, supporting Santa Clara County's and San Francisco's motions for preliminary injunction. An amicus curiae is a brief filed with the court by someone who is not a party to the case.

Funding cuts to sanctuary jurisdictions would endanger programs that provide preventive health care, meals for seniors, HIV/AIDS assistance, domestic violence services and mental health treatment, putting vulnerable individuals and the community at large at risk.

"This order is an important step to making sure that our neighbors who are immigrants feel safe in accessing important health and human services that are provided by local governments and nonprofit agencies," Law Foundation Directing Attorney Kyra Kazantzis said. "It also ensures that nonprofit organizations providing these key safety net services can continue to further their community service missions without fear of losing important federal funding."

Just Cause Protections Sweep into the South Bay

In a life-changing and historic vote by San Jose City Council, renters in San Jose can no longer be evicted without good reason.  Thanks to years of hard work by tenants and nonprofit groups, like the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, landlords will soon need to provide "just cause" for evicting tenants. Until now, San Jose was the only major Bay Area city without a similar policy. The Mercury News reported earlier this month that since 2010, more than 2,400 no cause evictions were reported.

The explosive growth of Silicon Valley continues to leave some members of our community behind, including long-time residents who are being displaced due to the rising cost of living. San Jose City Council’s vote to enact just cause evictions will help to ensure that all members of our community have the opportunity to be part of the Silicon Valley success story. 

Want to learn more about what just cause protections mean for renters? Listen to Law Foundation supervising attorney, Melissa Morris, on KQED's Forum program or read her letter to the editor in The Mercury News.

Thank you to Mayor Liccardo, and Councilmembers Jones, Jimenez, Peralez, Diep, Carraso, Nguyen, Arenas, and Rocha for their courage and leadership in making sure the urgency ordinance passed.