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Tenant Advocates Denounce Startup Offering Buyout Services

03.31.2016
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By Laura Waxmann, Mission Local
Rent Masters, a startup offering to help tenants willing to move out of rent-controlled housing figure out what they would be owed in buyout money, came under fire this month by the city’s housing rights community. In a buyout, a tenant agrees to vacate a unit in exchange for a payout by the landlord. Negotiations involved in this process can be lengthy and taxing, and tenants are often left with a compensation that sounds big but vanishes quickly as the tenants search for new housing. Rent Masters founder Brian Bensch, however, argues that there are situations in which both parties can benefit equally from a buyout. His company, he said, taps into a “unique but necessary” market by using technology to empower tenants. 
Read the complete story at Mission Local. 

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Seniors Working Hard for Their Money: 10 Million — Many Ethnic — in Tough Jobs

03.30.2016
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By Paul Kleyman, New America Media
A new study estimates that “10.2 million workers ages 58 and older (43.8 percent) were employed either in physically demanding jobs or jobs with difficult working conditions” — with high proportions of older Latinos and African American workers, as well as immigrants, those with poverty incomes or low educational levels. The authors of the report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research say this situation should give pause to both conservative presidential candidates and some liberal policy experts, who have recommended raising the full retirement age in Social Security. Read the complete story at New America Media.

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Two Deaths in 1 Jail in 1 Month: How Are We Treating Mentally Ill Inmates?

03.29.2016
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By Lisa Pickoff-White and Julie Small, KQED News Fix/The California Report
The final three weeks of Walter Roches’ life last September were, like much of his previous decade, violent and chaotic, complicated by mental illness and repeated encounters with law enforcement. Roches, 32, had completed a state prison sentence for domestic violence. Afterward, he was placed in the Evans Lane Wellness and Recovery Center, a San Jose facility that, among other things, treats mentally ill parolees. Read the complete story at KQED News Fix/The California Report.

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Grappling With Homelessness, BART Station by BART Station

03.28.2016
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By Holly McDede, KALW Crosscurrents
There has been a 45 percent increase in mental health-related calls to BART police since 2011. When officers don’t know what to do, they call Armando Sandoval. As BART’s community outreach liaison, Sandoval spends a big chunk of his mornings walking around downtown San Francisco BART stations waking up homeless people and asking how he can help them. Read the complete story at KALW Crosscurrents.

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California Crime on the Rise

03.24.2016
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By Matt Levin, CALmatters
After a decades-long decline in violent and property crime, early indications from cities across California point to a significant increase in lawbreaking. In California’s 68 largest cities, violent crime jumped 11 percent in the first six months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. Among major U.S. cities, three California cities saw the largest increase in property crime in the country.  
Read the complete story at CALmatters.

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Are Tiny Homes a Solution to Homelessness?

03.23.2016
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By Truc Nguyen, KALW/Crosscurrents
Last month, San Francisco city workers cleared a large tent encampment of homeless people on Division Street. Citing complaints about urine, feces and blocked sidewalks, the city’s Public Health Department declared the area unsafe and a public health hazard. While the city offered places at a new shelter at Pier 80, many of the displaced tent residents simply moved their belongings to surrounding alleys where, arguably, health hazards remain an issue. Since homeless shelters are not always a viable or desirable option for people on the street, some are proposing a novel idea: tiny homes for the homeless. Read the complete story at  KALW/Crosscurrents.

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Why Do Women Dominate Political Fundraising?

03.22.2016
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By Katie Orr, KQED News Fix/The California Report
It’s shaping up to be a pricey election cycle in California, maybe the most expensive ever. And politicians at all levels are trying to tap into the state’s deep-pocketed donors. Raising money for all those campaigns is a full-time job — and it’s a job done largely by women. The woman in charge of fundraising for the California Democratic Party is Angie Tate. She is often credited with raising a multimillion-dollar war chest for Gov. Jerry Brown, although she insists the governor did most of the work.

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Earn Less Than $13,870? California Rewards Low-Income Tax Filers

03.21.2016
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By Viji Sundaram, New America Media
 The Golden State’s poverty statistics are grim: Two in five people live just over the federal poverty level, and the state has the highest child poverty rate in the nation. But this year, for the first time, California’s working poor will get to keep more of their earnings in their pockets, thanks to the California Earned Income Tax Credit. But people with low incomes — less than $13,870 a year — must be sure to file their taxes in order to get their money back. Read the complete story at New America Media. 

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CPUC Regulators Still Hashing Out More Rules for Uber and Lyft

03.17.2016
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By Bryan Goebel, KQED News Fix/The California Report
The California Public Utilities Commission met Thursday to talk about the latest phase of regulations for ride services, just two days after its president told a state Senate committee hearing that no state agency — including his, apparently — wants to oversee Uber and Lyft. The commissioners were scheduled to vote Thursday on tightening ride-service guidelines, but postponed the decision until April 7 so that regulators could clear up some issues over leased vehicles, get more input on fingerprint background checks and clarify rules for transporting unaccompanied minors. 
Read the complete story at KQED News Fix/The California Report.

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S.F. Supervisors Rush to Fund Legacy Businesses’ Preservation

03.16.2016
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By Noah Arroyo, Mission Local
By this summer, San Francisco’s new Legacy Business Preservation Fund is slated to start giving longtime establishments financial assistance to weather the city’s harsh real estate market. That’s not soon enough for Supervisors David Campos and Aaron Peskin. They have co-sponsored legislation that would inject about $343,000 into the Preservation Fund before it officially activates in July, at the start of the fiscal year. That money would let the fund start working as early as April, helping protect certain businesses from being displaced. Read the complete story at Mission Local.