High rent pu h a ide Coa t ider

10/16/2015
High rents push aside Coastsiders | News | hmbreview.com
High rent puh aide Coatider
ome call for rent control
 Carina Woudenerg [ carina@hmreview.com ] Updated 5 hr ago
Home (/) / New (/new)
Cat Cutillo / Review
alma uan look out the window of her current Half Moon a home. Her famil ha truggled to afford a place to live on the
Coatide, depite the famil’ two income.
After roughl half a decade’ truggle to find decent houing on the Coatide, alma
uan and her longtime life partner, Geiler Zapata, uccefull rented a one-and-a-half
edroom duplex in l Granada for $1,400 per month.
http://www.hmbreview.com/news/high­rents­push­aside­coastsiders/article_e59adfaa­72aa­11e5­b812­4b27f91967bd.html
1/6
10/16/2015
High rents push aside Coastsiders | News | hmbreview.com
The duplex wan’t in the et condition, ut it wa a far cr from where the famil had
een. uan, Zapata and their daughter, Andrea, now 11, have experienced a variet of
le-than-ideal living ituation over the pat 14 ear, including extremel cloe quarter,
in which 13 people hared one athroom, and living in another dilapidated houe with a
gaping hole in the kitchen floor that provided an entrwa for unwanted animal.
ut thi relativel inexpenive duplex rought peace of mind. It wa too good to e true.
The landlord jacked up the rent ix time over the coure of two ear, uan aid. He
would tell them the had to get out ecaue he had to fix up the place, then aid he would
raie the rent and provide repair while the famil remained inide.
“He aid more lie,” uan aid. “He raied it (to) more than $2,000. We taed there and
he never fixed anthing.”
Ultimatel, uan and her famil were forced to move out due to the dramatic rent
increae. For the lat ear, the have een haring one edroom at a famil memer’
houe in Half Moon a while the earch for a more permanent olution. The famil
wihe to ta on the Coatide where oth adult are emploed, ut fear the will have to
move out of the area if the can’t find another place to live.
uan’ tor trike a chord with man current Coatide reident and former Coatider
a well.
Felix alazar lived in Half Moon a with hi famil for 15 ear ut a he wa forced to
move to Modeto nearl two ear ago due to a trick ituation etween roommate and
hi landlord. While alazar lived with hi wife and three children on the Coatide, the
looked for roommate to help hare in the monthl rent. The found a famil, alazar aid,
ut that famil omehow got control of the houe. entiall, alazar explained, the
other famil had contacted the landlord and convinced him the alazar didn’t have the
proper paperwork.
“We felt ver powerle,” alazar aid, peaking through a tranlator. “We had to make
the deciion to move out.”
http://www.hmbreview.com/news/high­rents­push­aside­coastsiders/article_e59adfaa­72aa­11e5­b812­4b27f91967bd.html
2/6
10/16/2015
High rents push aside Coastsiders | News | hmbreview.com
alazar’ famil moved to Modeto where the rent were cheaper, ut alazar continued to
keep hi jo a a roofer working for a variet of companie on the Coatide. He make the
nearl five-hour round-trip commute five da a week. alazar aid he tried looking for
work cloer to hi new home in Modeto, ut the work, along with the etter pa, are here
on the coat, he aid. More recentl, alazar aid he and hi famil were working hard to
come ack to the area.
“We tried a month ago,” alazar aid. “We tried to come ack, ut the iue are there.”
elinda Arriaga, who work a a ocial worker in the communit and i involved with the
cit of Half Moon a’ Latino Advior Council, a the houing iue ha alwa een a
prolem, ut one that eem to e getting wore.
“It kind of eemed to creep up overnight,” Arriaga aid. “We’re eeing it move into a crii
mode.”
Arriaga and other a the cit need rent control and more uidized houing a the a
Area at large ecome an increaingl popular detination for tech emploee who can
afford to pa more than ervice worker.
“We’re eeing familie move to Haward, Lo año and Oregon,” Arriaga aid. “Familie
that have long-tanding root in our communit who are having to leave.”
Jaon Tarricone who work a a directing attorne at the Houing and conomic
Advancement Communit Legal ervice a hi at Palo Alto office ha een the
affordale houing hortage iue countwide. The ervice fight for tenant’ right and
aim to help keep them in their home a long a poile.
“It’ reall detailizing for the communit and the worker who do the working-cla jo
in an Mateo Count,” Tarricone aid. “We definitel want more houing to e uilt.
“We puh for that, ut it’ going to take ear to uild our wa out of the crii,” he aid.
http://www.hmbreview.com/news/high­rents­push­aside­coastsiders/article_e59adfaa­72aa­11e5­b812­4b27f91967bd.html
3/6
10/16/2015
High rents push aside Coastsiders | News | hmbreview.com
In the meantime, ome of the urden fall on local nonprofit that offer aitance in an
wa the can.
Keith Terr work at Coatide Hope, an l Granada-aed nonprofit that ait lowincome familie through a variet of ervice. He a the need for affordale houing ha
een a long-tanding iue on the Coatide.
“There i a contant demand for houing aitance on the coat,” Terr wrote in an email
to the Review. “It pike when the econom oom ecaue rent increae, and it pike
when the econom ut ecaue income drop.” Terr reported that, etween 2008 and
2009, the nonprofit aw a 93 percent increae in houing aitance requet and a 27
percent increae in the ame requet etween 2014 and 2015.
uan’ famil wa luck to have a home during the economic receion ut faced man of
it houing difficultie efore and afterward. The room the are currentl renting i in the
home of Yolanda Novelo and her famil. Novelo work in mental health ervice ut i
alo involved in the Latino Advior Council and ee man familie that are truggling
with the iue.
“It’ een an iue for a long time,” Novelo aid. “ut efore, it wa more homeowner
loing their home.”
Novelo a now the concern i more around the rental increae and the fact that place
that offer low-income houing option on the Coatide are either full or elective. The
Moonridge communit i onl for migrant worker, he aid. The new Midpenninula
Houing facilit on Main treet i geared toward enior and ha trict income
requirement. “You need to prove ou’re ale to pa for thi,” he aid.
Half Moon a Cit Councilman Rick Kowalczk aid the iue wa rought to hi
attention at a recent Latino Advior Council meeting when a longtime reident hared
how her famil wa eing puhed out due to the exceive rent. Kowalczk aid he
learned from count ource that roughl 30 Half Moon a familie had een forced to
leave in the lat few month.
http://www.hmbreview.com/news/high­rents­push­aside­coastsiders/article_e59adfaa­72aa­11e5­b812­4b27f91967bd.html
4/6
10/16/2015
High rents push aside Coastsiders | News | hmbreview.com
“It i the addet thing for longtime Half Moon a familie to have to relocate due to
houing cot and huge rent increae,” Kowalczk aid in an email to the Review. “The
familie that are impacted  the houing crii are our friend and neighor, and we
need to do a etter jo of taking care of one another. I, peronall, intend to work cloel
with count reource to tr to ring more olution and ervice to our communit.”
Meanwhile, uan and her famil continue to look for a place to move on the Coatide, ut
ma have to conider anta Cruz or Trac. uan’ daughter i getting older and complain
aout wanting to have her own room. A a eventh-grader at Cunha Intermediate chool,
uan a Andrea offer to help her parent anwa he can.
For example, he ha offered to walk other people’ dog for a little it of extra cah. uan
wihe life to e eaier on her daughter, and although the tre ha gotten to her famil
he a the work hard to ta afloat.
“We have to keep going,” uan aid.
torie from the pat
Maage uine cloe after protitution arret
(/new/maage-uine-cloe-after-protitution-arret/article_a05e174-6d36-11e5-92e78289ce0a91.html)
Maage uine cloe after protitution arret (/new/maage-uinecloe-after-protitution-arret/article_a05e174-6d36-11e5-92e78289ce0a91.html)
Oct 7, 2015 Count progree on parallel trail planning
(/new/count-progree-on-parallel-trail-planning/article_2760f956-67ca-11e5-a2a4-d7994d7a38.html)
Count progree on parallel trail planning (/new/count-progree-onparallel-trail-planning/article_2760f956-67ca-11e5-a2a4-d7994d7a38.html)
ep 30, 2015 http://www.hmbreview.com/news/high­rents­push­aside­coastsiders/article_e59adfaa­72aa­11e5­b812­4b27f91967bd.html
5/6
10/16/2015
High rents push aside Coastsiders | News | hmbreview.com
FIHFT
 +2
(/new/fihfet/article_3a565ccc-67c0-11e5-ac1-d3ff7fecd621.html)
FIHFT (/new/fihfet/article_3a565ccc-67c0-11e5-ac1-d3ff7fecd621.html)
ep 30, 2015 vent focue on weed killer
(/new/event-focue-on-weed-killer/article_cd6f5d4-6d2f-11e5-ae0-c773d42d6a3.html)
vent focue on weed killer (/new/event-focue-on-weedkiller/article_cd6f5d4-6d2f-11e5-ae0-c773d42d6a3.html)
Oct 7, 2015 http://www.hmbreview.com/news/high­rents­push­aside­coastsiders/article_e59adfaa­72aa­11e5­b812­4b27f91967bd.html
6/6