Rent

More than 2 million Californians are struggling to keep up with rent — many of them single mothers with at least some college education. The situation will be made worse as some unemployment benefits begin to expire after Christmas and landlords begin evicting Feb. 1. This report is part of a multi-month series from the California Divide.

Aleida lost all her work at the start of the coronavirus shutdown. After using up her entire savings to keep her daughter and nephew sheltered, she missed rent for the first time in her life.

Patricia was already spending 75% of her take home pay on rent before the pandemic. Since losing her job as a medical transport driver, the single mother of two has fallen behind on rent.

Susan lost two of her three jobs at the start of California’s shelter-in-place order. She is just barely scraping by each month. Still, this once-homeless single mother says she feels rich compared to what she once had.

In many ways, distance learning is keeping Teresa from making ends meet. The waitress can only work weekends when her son isn’t in class. She’s falling behind on rent and considering moving out of state.

Alice Huffman was paid millions by corporate ballot measure campaigns that her historic civil rights organization endorsed, while many Black leaders took opposing positions.

After 70 years in Monterey County, 87-year-old Mary Martinez moved in the middle of a pandemic, evicted from her modest one-bedroom, second-floor apartment at 1118 Parkside St. in north Salinas. According to her former landlord, Martinez was evicted because she allowed a “violent man” to live with her, violating the conditions of her lease. Martinez said the man is her epileptic […]

Lea este artículo en español. Hundreds of thousands of college and university students are among the Californians expected to cast votes between now and November 3. The number of 18- to 24-year-olds registered to vote in California has climbed by 24% since the last presidential election, and students are finding creative ways to inspire their peers […]

On this episode of "Gimme Shelter," CalMatters' Matt Levin and the Los Angeles Times' Liam Dillon try to answer one voter's questions about the housing measures on her ballot.

Berkeley and Oakland are working on a policy to preserve affordable housing that would be the first of its kind in California.