On August 28th, SV@Home’s Emily Ann Ramos and Alison Cingolani had the privilege of sharing critical information on tenant protections at a Community Meeting on Affordable Housing, convened by the East San Jose PEACE Partnership. Tenants left empowered to advocate for themselves and their communities. Learn more about the tenant organizing happening in East San Jose!
On August 28th, SV@Home’s Emily Ann Ramos and Alison Cingolani had the privilege of sharing critical information on tenant protections at the Community Meeting on Affordable Housing, convened by the East San Jose PEACE Partnership. The PEACE Partnership is a group of residents and community-based organizations working together to build a healthy, peaceful, and empowered community in San Jose’s 95116, 95122, and 95127 zip codes. The hybrid event brought together tenants and neighbors to share knowledge and build community power, ensuring everyone left the room more empowered to advocate for their homes and their communities.
Most attendees at the hybrid event are residents of Valley Palms Apartments, owned by KDF Communities, or one of two properties formerly owned by KDF and recently sold: Foxdale Village Apartments and Orchard Glen Apartments. KDF is a for-profit developer of affordable housing based in Newport Beach. Historically, residents have reported poor living conditions, unsafe environments, and unresponsive management at these three affordable housing properties. Residents at Valley Palms also reported illegal rent increases. These poor conditions are rare in the South Bay’s affordable housing developments, most of which are operated by mission-driven nonprofit organizations.
Emily and Alison helped tenants understand the tenant protections and rent increase caps that apply to them, including how to understand if a rent increase is illegal. Providing education on tenant rights to residents in poorly managed affordable housing aligns with SV@Home’s tenant empowerment work, and also helps combat harmful narratives in which poor conditions at only a few properties color public perception of affordable housing as a whole. When we see bad actors, we collectively must hold them accountable.
Following the tenant protections portion of the gathering, members of Valley Palms Unidos, a powerful coalition of Valley Palms tenants, shared the story of how they organized together to demand better conditions. Together, they gained news coverage of the illegal rent increases, poor habitability, and safety issues at Valley Palms, and built relationships with city staff and their then-councilmember Maya Esparza.
As public pressure mounted on KDF, Valley Palms Unidos, along with four supportive councilmembers, leveraged an administrative hearing at City Council to gain valuable investments in improving conditions at the property. As a condition of the City issuing $120 million in tax-free bonds from California Statewide Community Development to rehabilitate the apartment complexes, KDF was required to make critical investments to correct habitability and safety issues and meet community needs, including on-site security and a process for tenant grievances.
Valley Palms Unidos is now a formally recognized neighborhood association, working to engage children in sports, provide activities for teens, improve neighborhood safety, and meet resident needs. They are committed, along with the East San Jose PEACE Partnership, to help others learn from their success.
SV@Home appreciates the opportunity to support efforts to protect tenants by providing education on tenants rights, and we are inspired by the tenants deeply committed to justice who are making real change in their communities!