OTU supports Los Angeles renters impacted by the LA Wildfires, which have devastated communities, with renters facing some of the most severe challenges. These fires have destroyed over 1,000 buildings and more than 14,000 acres, leaving thousands displaced and struggling to rebuild their lives. The impact has been especially harsh on renters lacking the financial and legal protections available to homeowners. Disaster relief programs frequently prioritize homeowners, leaving renters without sufficient aid. Legal protections against eviction and rent hikes remain limited, exacerbating their vulnerability during this crisis. Financial aid tailored to renters—such as grants for moving costs and replacing essentials—should be prioritized, alongside stronger legal protections to prevent evictions and unfair rent increases. In the long term, renters must be included in recovery and rebuilding efforts. These fires have underscored the urgent need for systemic reforms to better support renters during disasters, ensuring that no one is left behind in the face of future crises. Read our full statement and check out our resource guide.

Starting January 1, 2026, the controversial practice of "rent banking" will gain new restrictions, lobbied for by OTU members. Rent banking is the practice of retroactively applying a rent increase from a prior year that wasn't given at the time. Starting in 2026...

• Landlords will only be able to bank a maximum of five years of rent increases, instead of the current ten.
• Landlords will not be able to pass banked rent increases on when they sell the building (although they can be passed on to a spouse or child who inherits the property.
• Landlords will be required to provide a current business tax certificate if they want to apply any banked rent increases.

In addition...

• The deadline to petition an illegal rent increase has been doubled from 90 to 180 days (as of December 24, 2024).
• Landlords will no longer be able to perform a no-fault eviction if they are behind on their business taxes (December 24, 2024).
• Landlords will no longer be able to raise your rent if they are behind on their business taxes (as of April 15, 2025).

Although OTU opposes the entire practice of banking and any deadline to contest illegal rent increases, these common sense regulations will greatly help our ability to stay in our homes! OTU thanks Councilmember Dan Kalb for authoring the legislation, and Councilmember Kaplan, Councilmember Fife, Councilmember Bas, and Mayor Thao for ensuring it passed.

On Tuesday, December 5, City Council unanimously approved some amendments to Oakland's Rent Regulations. These amendments will:

• Remove the requirement that a tenant be current on rent in order to file or respond to a tenant petition.
• Increase the amount of compensation you can receive for a decreased housing services petition.
• Help bring certain types of housing under rent control.
• Remove the requirement for the appellant to appear at an appeal hearing.
  

After a hugely successful phone (and email) zap by OTU members and our allies, the Alameda Court agreed to flatten the eviction curve by slowing down the number of eviction cases they will hear every week from 188 to 38.

​The Oakland Tenants Union condemns Israel's ongoing genocidal war on Gaza, which is killing its civilians and destroying their housing, their hospitals, their schools, and their businesses. OTU calls for an immediate ceasefire and restoration of all services, and demands the U.S. immediately end all military aid to Israel.

Earlier this month, California passed a bill requiring the state to produce a study and recommendations on expanding the state’s social housing sector. Organizers hope it will be the first step in providing de-commodified shelter on a large scale.

OTU members and allies showed up to the Oakland City Council to demand a phased rollout of the eviction moratorium. The final legislation includes a set of new tenant protections, designed to mitigate the tsunami of eviction filings that will certainly occur now that the moratorium is no longer in place.
Under the new policy, tenants who can prove they experienced a COVID-related hardship can never be evicted for unpaid rent that became due while the moratorium was in place. Landlords are also prohibited from evicting anyone who owes less than one month of what the federal government considers fair rent.

If a landlord wants to evict an Oakland tenant for violating their lease, they’ll now have to prove that the renter’s behavior caused “substantial actual injury” to the property owner or other tenants.

On November 8, 2022, after sustained advocacy by OTU members and allies, Oakland voters passed Measure V, which improves the Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance by:

• Extending Just Cause protections to more properties in Oakland. With Measure V, all buildings constructed within the last ten years have Just Cause for Eviction Protections, as do tiny homes on wheels and recreational vehicles, if they are rented to a tenant by a landlord.
• Adding special eviction protections for school-age children or educators who are being evicted for “no-fault” reasons during the school year. Evictions have been shown to disrupt the educational progress of children. We also need our teachers to be able to remain in Oakland. This measure prevents evictions that could damage educational achievement.

​Measure V is the culmination of more than two decades of renter organizing and builds upon the legacy of Causa Justa and the Oakland Tenants Union's early work. CJJC and OTU first organized to pass the original Just Cause eviction ordinance in 2002 when Black and Brown communities were being displaced due to the dot com boom. In 2016, the Protect Oakland Renters Coalition expanded Just Cause to cover tenants in buildings built before 1995 with Measure JJ. In 2018, with Measure Y, we closed a loophole that was being used to push tenants in smaller buildings out.