Measure O Contract (Anti-Displacement Services Agreement) City Council Special Meeting
July 5, 2022
Attachment 1
The following chart shows all of the many Measure O Contract accomplishments and activities directed to the realization of the two main goals of the agreement: 1) provide legal services and 2) advance tenant advocacy and education to prevent displacement in the City, from April 1, 2020 through March 31, 2022.
January 2022 – March 2022 (New Updates)
Community Legal
Services in East
Palo Alto (CLSEPA)
Legal Services
• Provided legal workshops and tenants’ trainings to
East Palo Alto volunteers
• Since January 2022, CLSEPA has seen the need for
housing legal assistance and advocacy continue to
increase. In 2021, the reception team fielded 809
housing-related inquiries. In the last six months, they have fielded 415 inquiries.
• The CLSEPA Housing team has opened 235 cases
total, 47 of which were on behalf of East Palo Alto
residents. The average income of these residents was
$2,797. 43% of these cases involved eviction notices,
12% were Unlawful Detainers (evictions), and 17%
were rent increases or changes in tenancy terms.
• In the past three months, CLSEPA has seen a steady
increase in eviction notices and eviction court filings and expects to see an even greater trend upward in
the second half of the year once state COVID
protections fully expire.
Direct Rental and Financial Assistance
• CLSEPA has distributed over $200,000 in rental
assistance funds since April 2022 when state funds
were no longer available to tenants.
Nuestra Casa (NC) Tenant Outreach
• NC has offered informational material on the next
steps of the state rent relief (and what would happen
between the dates of April 1, 2022 to June 30, 2022).
• Promotoras distributed 4,500 flyers in Spanish and
English from January to June 2022 in various
community locations in East Palo Alto, Redwood City
and Menlo Park.
Case Management
• Nuestra Casa, YUCA and other volunteers
collaborated in a pop-up event on March 26, 2022
before the closing cycle of the state rent relief
program, with the goal of helping to review and
complete applications and answer questions.
• To-date, NC has supported 400 families. There have
been 194 approved applications and 5 appealed
cases. The total amount of rent relief funds received
for these cases has been $2.2 million.
• NC is currently serving 25 East Palo Alto clients.
Youth United for
Community Action
(YUCA)
Tenant Outreach:
• YUCA conducted in-person, high-touch outreach
(door-to-door knocking) to tenants on the westside and
single-family home tenants throughout East Palo Alto.
From January to March, YUCA youth, staff and
volunteers knocked on an estimated 500 doors on the
westside and roughly 400 doors on the eastside of
town through targeted outreach.
• Conducted over 350 phone calls to tenants in YUCA’s
tenant registry to inform them of the changing tenant
protections post March 30th and to provide technical
support with their rental relief applications.
• YUCA informed local newspaper articles, did
interviews with local news outlets, and made
announcements on a regional radio station to call for
East Palo Alto tenants to get in touch for technical
support.
• Responded to the issuance of 3-day notices by
conducting in-person, high touch outreach to all
households receiving notices
Case Management
• 3 YUCA full time staff fielded calls Monday – Friday
from 10:30am to 6:30pm from tenants calling
throughout the County.
• Hosted 4 rent relief pop-up clinics on weekends.
• Continued to support the tenants in YUCA's database
who have a variety of needs and requests for technical
support: from referrals to legal resources, to technical support with pending rental relief applications, to
submitting brand new applications for rent relief with
Samaritan House and CLSEPA.
• Ongoing in-person technical support, on an
appointment basis, for East Palo Alto tenants
submitting appeals/navigating denials of their rent
relief apps
Tenant Empowerment & Leadership Development:
• Supported El Comité with outreach and content
development for a meeting focused on westside area
development
• Conducted 4 meetings with tenant leaders to consult
on the best approaches to conduct outreach to tenants
and develop investment in the process of keeping
people housed
• Funding limitation has limited YUCA's ability to do
further significant tenant leadership
development/empowerment work since March
April 2020 – January 2022 (from January 18, 2022 Staff Report)1 Staffing YUCA and Nuestra Casa each hired staff members to educate East Palo Alto residents about housing issues and expand tenants’ capacity to engage in policy advocacy that impacts their housing stability. YUCA’s and Nuestra Casa’s Housing Coordinators worked at 62.5% of a FTE. CLSEPA
also partially funded new staff attorney positions.
Policy & Advocacy
Leadership
Immediately after the start of COVID19 shelter-in-place orders, CLSEPA emerged as a leader advocating for local policies to protect tenants from eviction during the pandemic.
Their expertise in the technical aspects of evictions and experience administering rental assistance funds allowed them to successfully advocate for COVID-19 eviction
moratoriums at the local and state levels. CLSEPA quickly turned out legal research memos about the legal authority to protect tenants from eviction during a public health crisis and drafted sample ordinance language. They also worked with the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County to advocate for the court to stop most eviction activity for several months. 1 January 18, 2022 City Council Staff Report:
http://eastpaloalto.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?Frame=&MeetingID=1471&MediaPosition=&I D=2032&CssClass=
This work protected scores of families from eviction even before the Judicial Council ordered courts across California to stop processing eviction cases.
CLSEPA also brought the local perspective to advocacy
efforts at the state level to stop evictions. They worked with Western Center on Law & Poverty to help the Governor’s
office, and legislative staff better understand the technical aspects of eviction cases and rent debt. This work led to the passage of AB 3088, SB 91, and AB 832, new state laws that protect tenants from eviction who could not pay the rent due to impacts from COVID-19.
YUCA and Nuestra Casa staff members have been also
civically engaged on this issue. YUCA attended four Rent Board meetings and presented once to the Rent Board on a separate occasion. YUCA staff also attended 14 City Council meetings to monitor affordable housing policy discussions, monitor Woodland’s Euclid Improvement Affordable Housing Strategy, advocate for tenant protections in light of COVID19, support Valiant Courtyard Tenant Association with habitability grievances, and to advocate for equitable
implementation of SB91. Nuestra Casa staff provided public comment at 8 City Council meetings related to the Woodland redevelopment project and our anti-displacement project.
Legal
Workshops/Tenants’
Rights Trainings
CLSEPA conducted seven legal workshops for over 220
residents and Nuestra Casa and YUCA staff members. The
workshops educated residents about state and local eviction moratoriums enacted during COVID-19, and also covered
topics related to redevelopment plans at Woodland Park.
CLSEPA also provided six technical assistance trainings to community partners on accumulating COVID rent debt, state and local eviction moratoriums, converting rent debt to regular civil debt, and land use policy. These training sessions have been critical for staff and Nuestra Casa’s Promotoras because they built their confidence to do
effective, high-touch community outreach. Also, CLSEPA
attorneys provided several consultations with City staff and policymakers about eviction moratoriums and rental
assistance during the pandemic.
Tenant Associations YUCA helped strengthen the Valiant Courtyard Association at Bay Road, where there have been grievances about rent
increases, health and safety issues. YUCA and Nuestra Casa have supported Palo Mobile Estates residents by conducting education and outreach efforts directly relevant to them.
YUCA also presented to Palo Mobile Estates residents twice on rent relief availability. Most recently, YUCA was consulted and extended support to Friends of Palo Mobile Estates on how to conduct a successful in-person clinic for residents who needed live support on filling out documentation.
Tenant Advisory
Board
The Measure O organizations helped to create the Tenant Advisory Board (TAB), comprised of 9 community members.
A strength of the TAB is that it includes community members familiar with and new to housing advocacy. The Measure O organizations have held 15 training sessions to help
community members strengthen their advocacy, learn how to build their base of supportive renter leaders, and civic engagement skills. There were also an additional 7 meetings of subcommittees of the Tenant Advisory Body that were
more focused, in-depth strategy sessions for conducting outreach and training additional members of our base (“train the trainer”). Today, 7 of the 9 members remain highly
engaged and active in tenant organizing and outreach. TAB leaders wish to reorganize, bring on more tenants, and build a more solidified team for the efforts that are still to come around their housing needs.
Direct Community
Outreach
CLSEPA created know-your-rights materials and tenant
notice forms about local eviction moratoriums during COVID19, distributed through schools and food distribution sites in EPA. CLSEPA also created a bilingual website,
www.YouAreCommunity.org, to educate tenants about their rights and resources during the pandemic.
YUCA and Nuestra Casa staff members combined have
shared over 15,000 outreach materials to residents through Nuestra Casa’s Food Distribution program, Church of Christ, St Francis Church, EHP, and apartment complexes.
Information distributed at various events included: ADU ordinance flyers about the eviction moratorium, MidPen Palo Gardens Affordable Housing flyers and applications, eviction moratorium factsheets, template Declaration of Financial Hardship letters, and information on eligibility and how to apply for the California Rent Relief program. CLSEPA also distributed several thousand packets of bilingual information to EPA residents about the eviction moratorium and the
importance of submitting declarations to landlords if COVID19 has financially impacted tenants.
Nuestra Casa developed a list of tenants behind in rent and did direct canvassing for them. The Promotoras talked with more than 500+ people from this list to ensure they had the information they needed about the eviction moratorium to protect their housing. Nuestra Casa held 25+ outreach
activities and in East Palo Alto via our Food Distribution program and outreach in laundromats, clinics, and local supermarkets.
The Measure O organizations created videos explaining how to protect yourself from eviction during COVID-19. These videos explain the process to activate one’s tenant rights under the eviction moratorium. For example, Nuestra Casa posted its video to our social media accounts and boosted it as an ad. On Facebook, it reached 1,054 people by March 4, 2021 (organic: 295, paid: 788). It reached 115 accounts on Instagram and 81 impressions on Twitter. Nuestra Casa also posted the video to our YouTube channel and website.
Hotline YUCA maintained a bilingual tenant hotline during the organization's hours of operation. Tenants call with inquiries about rental assistance funds, pro-bono legal support,
eviction support, and more. Tenants also communicate via text message which we have found creates more
accessibility.
YUCA’s tenant registry list started with 180 renters in East Palo Alto. Today YUCA’s tenant registry has grown to 410.
Since starting this work with the Measure O team, YUCA’s registry has grown by 235 people. The vast majority of
renters (over 95%) are from East Palo Alto. These are all residents who YUCA continues to maintain communication
with and support with their housing rights.
Legal Assistance CLSEPA assisted 650 East Palo Alto residents with legal representation or advice, including 234 residents funded by the Measure O contract. CLSEPA also assisted over 530
East Palo Alto residents with emergency rental assistance since the beginning of the Measure O contract.
The Measure O contract helped fund CLSEPA's work to stop an unlawful $75 rent increase that would have been
assessed against about 115 families residing at Palo Mobile Estates, winning the case before East Palo Alto’s Rent
Stabilization Board. CLSEPA also represented Palo Mobile Estates residents in successful advocacy to ensure that immigrant families and low-income residents could benefit from continued low rents after the park was converted.
State’s Rental Relief
Program
In coordination with the Measure O contract activities, the Rent Stabilization Program:
Regarding East Palo
Alto’s Rental Relief
Fund applications, to
date, the State
reports:
Number of
applications: 821
Funds requested:
$11,533,561
Households already
served: 367
Average assistance:
$11,712
Funds paid:
$4,345,068
• Emailed SB 91 related information to the Program’s
landlords.
• Sent multiple Rental Relief Fund English-Spanish
mailers to all the tenants subject to the Rent
Stabilization Program.
• Coordinated with the City Manager’s Office to provide SB91 Program Relief Fund information in the City’s
Weekly Updates.
• Provided landlords and tenants with referrals for
technical assistance.
• Facilitated efforts for a coordinated response with
Samaritan House and Project Sentinel which have
also been assisting EPA residents.
• Updated the Program’s COVID-19 webpage with
information related to the State’s Rental Relief
Program.
• Also, in collaboration with Woodland Park
Communities, City staff held an SB 91 informational
session to landlords on April 8, 2020.
CLSEPA:
• Sent text messages to over 1,500 client families (700 in EPA) urging them to apply for SB 91 funds and
reassuring that immigration status is irrelevant.
• Created bilingual materials about State rent relief for our COVID tenants’ rights website,
www.YouAreCommunity.org/rental-assistance.
• Represented 414 East Palo Alto residents facing
eviction threats or lawsuits and helped keep 65% of
East Palo Alto clients in their homes through legal
advocacy, including work funded by the Measure O
contract.
• Expended $500,000 in rental assistance during the
pandemic, with majority of funds going to East Palo
Alto families.
• Connected with over 300 families to ensure they could pay the State’s required 25% of rent under the Rental
Relief Program.
YUCA:
• Education & Outreach
o Education and training for our peer leaders was
addressed in the sections above
o Outreach was conducted via phone calls and
text messages to our growing tenant registry of
410 renters. Continued phone-banking efforts
from our team has ensured there is follow-up
with tenants and the rapport is maintained
o In-person, high-touch outreach was conducted
to 3,000 households on the eastside and
westside of town.
o Educational, easy-to-understand content has
also been circulated on the organization’s
Facebook and Instagram platforms
• Direct, 1-1 support
o Provided 1-1 support to a total of 410 families
▪ Extended peer support to 231 local
families struggling with housing
insecurity, looking for pro-bono legal
support, applying to Samaritan House,
needing connection to food distribution
centers, and navigating other City issues
with the building permit department.
▪ Supported 179 families with applications
to CA Emergency Rent Relief Program.
Most families return or call back 1-4
times for ongoing support with their
application. Difficult cases require
anywhere between 5-10+ interactions of
direct support and follow-up.
NUESTRA CASA (April 2020-December 2021):
• Outreach at various community sites throughout the
City: 11,349 AB 3088, SB91, and AB 832 flyers; 1,300
rental information resource sheet and postcards for
tenants.
• Door-to-door outreach: 9,550 AB 3088, SB91, AB 832
flyers; 500+ one-on-one tenant conversations.
• Tenant Phone Calls: 942.
• Collected tenant phone numbers for one-on-one follow
ups: 150.
• Tenant SB91 Applications completed: 338 (305
families from East Palo Alto and 33 families from other parts of the County)
• Social media impressions: 7,502.
• Nuestra Casa’s outreach numbers in this report
represent work in the East Palo Alto community.
However, Nuestra Casa also distributed additional
information and flyers in other parts of the County such as North Fair Oaks, Redwood City, Central San
Mateo, and South San Francisco.