Fair Rents, Fair Bills: Understanding Rent & Utility Regulations

JOIN US VIRTUALLY ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17TH 12PM

Join us for a learning session about San José’s Rent Stabilization Program and possible updates to the city’s rules on how utilities are billed in rental housing (known as Ratio Utility Billing Services, or RUBS).

We’ll break down:

  • What rent stabilization means
  • How RUBS works
  • And what these proposed changes could mean for renters and housing providers

You’ll also learn how to share your feedback and get involved as the city considers these updates and how it can impact you.

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August 28, 2025

When Community Leads, Housing Follows: CRC Update

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SV@Home held the fourth Community Roots Collaborative’s (CRC) convening of the year at Sacred Heart Community Services’ headquarters two weeks ago, featuring two local guests to discuss community development partnerships between community-based organizations and nonprofit affordable housing developers.

About two weeks ago, SV@Home held the fourth Community Roots Collaborative’s (CRC) convening of the year at Sacred Heart Community Services’ headquarters off of 1st Street and Alma Avenue! We had two featured guests share their insights on community development partnerships between community-based organizations and nonprofit affordable housing developers, they included

We also received an exciting presentation from CRC cohort member Marc Adams, Senior Organizer of Sacred Heart Community Services and Yanet Crisostomo, a community leader of the Sacred Heart Housing Action Committee about the status of their community development journey. They discussed their vision of providing affordable housing to residents of District 3 in San Jose by leaning into their community organizing strengths of door-knocking, gauging residents’ interests, and getting them involved to meet their housing needs. They also shared how they are fostering a healthy and honest relationship with a local nonprofit affordable housing developer to help them through the process of having their long-term goal come true of completing their first development.

CRC members found the discussions throughout the day incredibly insightful. Given that Duane Bay and Carlos Castellanos worked on projects together in the past, they seamlessly provided a comprehensive and genuine outlook on what the cohort should look for in a partner and what a successful partnership looks like. A few take-aways we learned include:

  • It is crucial to understand why you are working together. Intentionality is critical – aligning on mission is more important to build and sustain partnerships. 
  • Discuss needs, money and agreements judiciously, clearly, and honestly.
  • Know that each party brings something to the table. Lean on your organizational strengths, and be open to learning from each other. 
  • Normalize taking risks. Having a valuable partner enables you to take calculated risks, which is critical to systems-change work. Taking risk also means there is a possibility of failure, but having an aligned and experienced partner better positions you to mitigate risks. 

SV@Home will continue to bring this group of over 15 Santa Clara County community-based organizations together to learn more about and incubate community development in Santa Clara County. The CRC will be heading to its second tour of the year next month to the Unity Council in Fruitvale, Oakland. The CRC will convene two more times on a monthly basis after that through November. Stay tuned for more!