Bay Area housing and disaster advocates and organizers organized a webinar and press conference to discuss an innovative climate and housing policy just days before the seven-year anniversary of the Sonoma County Tubbs fire.
In response to seven years of community organizing during multiple climate catastrophes, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors approved a first-in-the-nation package of renter protections on September 17, 2024 that includes a moratorium on evictions during declared emergencies and stronger Just Cause eviction protections for unincorporated Sonoma County.
Below you'll find a transcript of the discussion.
Lina Blanco
Communications & Cultural Strategist at North Bay Organizing Projec
Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us today. My name is Lina Blanco, my pronouns are they/she. I am the Communications & Cultural Strategist at the North Bay Organizing Project, a lifelong tenant and descendant of low-wage immigrant workers from Northern Mexico.
We are gathered here today – just a few days ahead of the 7-year-anniversary of the unprecedented Sonoma Complex fire – because Sonoma County tenants finally won first-in-the-nation disaster-triggered renter protections.
On September 17, we made history as the first County in the country to tie an eviction moratorium to disasters and emergencies.
This is a monumental and hard fought victory for our community, for renters, for working-class families, for our immigrant and undocumented neighbors, and everyone who makes Sonoma County the vibrant and resilient place that it is.
As we see low-wage and renting communities across the south devastated by Hurricane Helene, we are grounded in the knowledge that low-income, immigrant, and undocumented people deserve the right to a just and dignified recovery.
Sonoma County is setting the stage for innovative protections in an era of climate chaos. Our community leaders — those most impacted— are organizing on the frontlines of fires, floods, public safety power shut offs and heat days. And through this, we continue to establish cutting-edge policies.
Since 2017, frontline community leaders of the North Bay Organizing Project (NBOP), supported by allied organizations such as Legal Aid of Sonoma County, have organized to secure anti-eviction policies, won 32 language justice policies in emergency response systems – many of which are the first-of-their kind in California, and model grassroots examples for nation-wide policy on climate change and housing.
Today, you will hear from the organizers who built power with those folks most impacted, to make this work possible. Inside your invitation you will have received a press packet and information about how low-income, renters, and undocumented community members led the fight for these emergent protections.
First, I’d like to invite Beatrice Camacho, tenant organizer and Director of UndocuFund, the first mutual aid fund for undocumented residents during disasters in the US.
Beatrice Camacho
Director of UndocuFund and Tenant Organizer at North Bay Organizing Project
My name is Beatrice Camacho, my pronouns are she/her/ella. I am the daughter of immigrant parents from northern Mexico, a lifelong Santa Rosa renter, a Tenant Organizer with the North Bay Organizing Project, and the Director of UndocuFund. Over the past seven years, I have experienced firsthand the devastating impact of disasters on our communities, especially renters. From being evacuated multiple times, unsure if I’d have a home to return to, to spending long, exhausting days at evacuation centers offering mutual aid to those who had lost their homes, lost work, arrived with nothing, and experienced language barriers. I heard countless stories of people scared and uncertain about what was next for them. Through these experiences, I’ve witnessed firsthand the undeniable link between disasters and housing instability.
This ordinance victory is not just monumental, it’s a lifeline, and it’s long overdue. We’ve heard directly from renters: without protections, they’re at constant risk of losing their homes, a threat that intensifies during disasters. Undocumented renters face increased challenges; with limited access to recovery aid. By now, we’ve all seen those haunting images of agricultural workers, harvesting crops against the backdrop of raging wildfires. They can’t afford to stop working, because missing a day’s pay means not being able to make rent. We must stand together to ensure that no one in our community is ever forced to choose between their life and their rent. Every single person deserves the right to recover and rebuild.
Over the last 7 plus years, we’ve been organizing and campaigning for stronger eviction protections because we know that housing is a vital piece of disaster response. Mutual aid networks, like the one we built with UndocuFund, have been a critical safety net, by providing immediate support during disasters. Since its inception during the Tubbs fire, UndocuFund has distributed over $17 million to over 10,000 undocumented households in Sonoma County affected by wildfires, floods, COVID-19, and heat waves: with recipients choosing to use most of the aid that they receive on rent. Our model of mutual aid has been a key resource to our undocumented community. Now this ordinance will not only protect undocumented renters, but all Sonoma County renters.
This win represents a coalition of voices across issues, united in the understanding that evictions destabilize families, especially during times of crisis. We’ve been organizing for this for a long time, and today, we celebrate a victory that has the potential to save lives in the face of future disasters.
However, this victory is not just about Sonoma County; it's about creating a model for other jurisdictions. Just as counties across the country, impacted by wildfires and COVID-19, turned to us for guidance to create their own UndocuFunds, we hope this ordinance will inspire other regions facing similar crises to organize for similar tenant protections during disasters. When we face the next disaster as renters, we will have a crucial new layer of protection, but there’s still more to do. We’ll be ready to mobilize and organize with our neighbors, ensuring that nobody is left behind. Thank you.
We now invite Sandra, De Leon. A farmworker and mother who is calling us from doing restorative work on the land at the site of Monan’s Rill, a community of homes that burned in the 2020 Glass Fire. Sandra will be speaking in Spanish. Welcome, Sandra.
Sandra De Leon
Leader of UndocuFund and Sonoma County Tenants Union
Español
Buenas tardes, mi nombre es Sandra De Leon. Como dijo Lina, aqui estoy con compañeros, estamos restaurando la tierra que se quemó durante el incendio glass del 2020. Aqui estamos ayudando a que esta tierra vuelva a cobrar vida. Soy una trabajadora campesina, inquilina en el condado de Sonoma y madre de tres hijos. Como trabajadora campesina y cabeza de familia, he pasado por muchas dificultades tanto de pérdidas de trabajo durante los desastres naturales que han pasado en estos últimos años; como incendios, tormentas invernales, inundaciones, y el covid.
Una de las situaciones más preocupantes para mi y para muchos de mis compañeros ha sido el no tener una estabilidad económica durante tiempos de desastres para poder cubrir nuestros gastos, especialmente la renta. Porque sabemos que tener un hogar para nuestras familias es una prioridad. Los desastres naturales afectan mucho mi trabajo como trabajadora campesina.
Durante los últimos 7 años, tanto a mi como a mis compañeros campesinos nos hemos visto impactados por la posibilidad de no tener trabajo la mayoría del año por eventos provocados por el cambio climático. Durante los incendios, nos quedamos sin trabajo cuando los ranchos son destruidos por el fuego completamente o son impactados por el humo. O durante las tormentas que al igual no podemos trabajar, por el nivel del agua que ocurre en los ranchos. Y muchas veces, por nuestro estatus migratorio, no podemos acceder al apoyo de parte del gobierno para recuperarnos durante y después de desastres. Esto causa estrés y afecta nuestra salud. Por eso, la ayuda mutua que obtenemos de UndocuFund es tan esencial para todos nosotros durante tiempos de desastres.
Como inquilina, esta nueva ordenanza que hemos logrado aquí en el condado de Sonoma, nos asegura, garantiza, y protege durante tiempos de desastres, y es muy importante, porque como mencione, nuestra casa, nuestro hogar, es prioridad para cada uno de nosotros. No fue fácil llegar hasta este punto de pasar esta ordenanza, hemos estado luchando y organizando por esto desde el primer incendio grande en el 2017. Esto es el principio de los cambios que necesitamos para asegurar que podamos recuperarnos de un desastre de manera equitativa.
English
Good afternoon, my name is Sandra De León. As Lina said, here I am with my compañeros/coworkers, we are restoring the land that was burned during the Glass fire of 2020. Here we are helping to bring this land back to life. I am a farmworker, and tenant in Sonoma County and a mother of three. As a farmworker and head of household, I have gone through many hardships both in terms of job losses during the natural disasters that have happened over the past few years; such as fires, winter storms, floods, and the covid.
One of the most worrisome situations for me and many of my colleagues has been not having economic stability during times of disasters to be able to cover our expenses, especially rent. Because we know that having a home for our families is a priority. Natural disasters greatly affect my work as a farm worker.
For the past 7 years, I and my fellow farm workers have been impacted by the possibility of being out of work most of the year due to events caused by climate change. During fires, we are out of work when ranches are completely destroyed by fire or impacted by smoke. Or during storms we are also unable to work because of the water level that occurs on the ranches. And many times, because of our immigration status, we cannot access support from the government to recover during and after disasters. This causes stress and affects our health. That is why the mutual aid we get from UndocuFund is so essential for all of us during times of disaster.
As a tenant, this new ordinance that we have achieved here in Sonoma County, assures, guarantees, and protects us during times of disasters, and it is very important, because as I mentioned, our house, our home, is a priority for each of us. It was not easy to get to this point of passing this ordinance, we have been fighting and organizing for this since the first big fire in 2017. This is the beginning of the changes we need to make sure we can recover from a disaster in an equitable manner.
We now invite Margaret, Directing Attorney of the statewide legal advocacy non-profit California Center for Movement Legal Services who was instrumental in the development of this policy.
Thank you for the introduction Lina! And thank you all for being here. It has been one of the high points of my career to campaign alongside so many amazing people for these tenant protections. This victory is deeply personal. As a tenant who lost everything in a fire, I know how destabilizing that can be.
Housing stability is important the day a tenant receives their keys. It is vital to protect tenants, both in and out of disaster. Studies repeatedly show that tenants who have permanent eviction protections in effect at the time of a disaster fare much better than those who do not.
We started fighting for tenant protections years ago, winning them first in Petaluma, driven by the urgency of disasters and the looming end of the Covid-19 Eviction Moratorium in October 2022. Each day without them meant another fire, earthquake, flood or pandemic could hit our community and tenants would not have protections to help keep them housed. As a tenant that resides in unincorporated Sonoma County with my small family, I rest easier knowing these protections, which also cover us, are now in place as we live through another fire and flood season.
This fight for stronger eviction and disaster protections, was tied to lessons of the Pandemic. Something remarkable happened during Covid when there were multiple levels of temporary tenant protections in effect. Court evictions dropped by over 60% in Sonoma County. We dug into that information, putting together any piece of data that we could find to show our elected officials that tenant protections work and we need them permanently. We created StruggleForHome.org, a story map to illustrate the life of a tenant in this County over the past seven years:
When and where the evictions happen
Where folks are struggling to get by, and
Who is disproportionately facing eviction over time
Together, we tried to expose the struggles of our BIPOC neighbors and the legacy of racist land use policies. There is no way to reverse the impact of intentionally discriminatory policies, without equally intentional policies driven by those who have suffered the brunt of the harm. Improving stability for renters has a greater impact on the BIPOC community, as they are more likely to rent. The permanent tenant protections passed in Sonoma County, which limit the reasons a person can be evicted above and beyond the barebones state law, are the third of their kind in this state and the disaster protections are the first in the country.
The truth is, we have more work ahead of us. We need protections that go beyond disasters, beyond just cause eviction protection. Homelessness in Sonoma County is up 11% from 2023, with 29% reporting that it is their first time being homeless. 59% of those surveyed in the annual point in time count say the reason they are houseless is that they cannot afford the rent. They are just scraping by and those housed can barely pay their rent. When evicted, tenants cannot find other housing. The exorbitant rents lead our friends and neighbors, our workforce, out of the community to places that are more affordable – or to the streets.
These new laws can be part of a model for a more just future, but we are just getting started if Sonoma County is going to be a place where everyone, not just the wealthy, are able to have a safe and secure home. Thank you.
We now invite Zita Ramirez, a local union organizer and member of the Sonoma County Tenants Union. Zita will be speaking in Spanish.
Zita Ramirez
Worker organizer at Unite Here Local 2 and leader Sonoma County Tenants Union
Español
Mi nombre es Zita Ramirez. Soy una abuela orgullosa, madre de dos varones, y he vivido en un parque de RV por ocho años. Soy organizadora de trabajadores de Unite Here - Local 2 y miembra de mi unión en un casino local.
Por mi propia experiencia, creo que los empleados tienen derecho a una vivienda digna y techo sobre su cabeza.
Cuándo fue la pandemia, nos mandaron a la casa. No tenía trabajo, y no tenía cómo pagar mi renta. Antes de que tuviéramos la moratoria contra los desalojos, me atrasé en mi renta y tenía que mandar una carta al parque en donde vivo, pidiendo más tiempo. Me atrasé como un mes de renta. Si hubiéra sido durante el tiempo que tuvimos las protecciones contra los desalojos debido al covid-19, no me hubiera preocupado tanto. Todo el mundo estaba en pánico durante la pandemia. El no ir a trabajar y no tener dinero, eso fue lo peor.
Cuando fueron las inundaciones del año pasado en Guerneville, algunos compañeros que trabajan en el casino conmigo perdieron su trabajo. Si llegas tarde o si no vas a trabajar, dan puntos punitivos. Sí estás atrapado en casa por agua e inundaciones, ¿como vas a hablarle a tu trabajo? No te preguntan qué pasó. No importa el trabajo que estás haciendo, si pasas por un desastre, te corren. Y así les pasó a algunos compañeros. Y si pierden su trabajo, pierden su hogar, no tienen con qué sobrevivir. Los desastres son una tragedia para nosotros los trabajadores.
Sabiendo que todos los inquilinos van a estar protegidos contra los desalojos durante desastres es un gran alivio. Saber que tenemos ese apoyo, nuestro ingreso para usarse durante las emergencias del momento. Si necesitamos dinero para ir a comprar papel, comida, agua, cosas básicas, y no tener que decidir en quedarnos en la calle o en la casa.
Ser miembra de la unión de inquilinos me da más información para poderme defender. Es satisfactorio ver que las personas pueden tener las herramientas y el coraje para luchar y no sufrir más abusos. Esta póliza es un gran cambio para mi, mi familia y a toda la comunidad. El sabor a victoria, triunfo, y lograrlo, es muy satisfactorio. Que sí se puede.
Gracias.
English
My name is Zita Ramirez. I am a proud grandmother, mother of two boys, and have lived in an RV park for eight years. I am a worker organizer for Unite Here - Local 2 and a member of my union at a local casino.
From my own experience, I believe that workers have a right to decent housing and a roof over their heads.
When the pandemic hit, we were sent home. I had no job, and I had no way to pay my rent. Before we had the moratorium on evictions, I fell behind on my rent and had to send a letter to the park where I live, asking for more time. I was about a month behind on rent. If it had been during the time we had the protections against evictions because of COVID-19, I wouldn't have worried so much. Everyone was in a panic during the pandemic. Not going to work and not having money, that was the worst.
When it was the floods last year in Guerneville, some folks who work at the casino with me lost their jobs. If you're late or if you don't go to work, they give points that punish you. If you're stuck at home because of water and flooding, how are you going to talk to your job? They don't ask you what happened. No matter what job you're doing, if you go through a disaster, they'll run you off. And that's how it happened to some of my colleagues. And if they lose their job, they lose their home, they have nothing to survive on. Disasters are a tragedy for us workers.
Knowing that all tenants are going to be protected against evictions during disasters is a great relief. Knowing that we have that support, our income to use during emergencies at that time, like if we need money to go buy paper, food, water, basic things, and not have to decide whether to pay the rent or stay on the street.
Being a member of the Sonoma County Tenants' Union gives me more information to be able to defend myself. It is gratifying to see that people can have the tools and courage to fight back and not suffer any more abuses. This policy is a great change for me, my family and the whole community. The taste of victory, triumph, and achieving it, is very satisfying. That it can be done.
Thank you.
We now invite Kendall Jarvis, Disaster Relief Attorney with Legal Aid of Sonoma County, a key partner in our broad coalition to support these protections.
Kendall Jarvis
Disaster and Policy Attorney Legal Aid of Sonoma County
My name is Kendall Jarvis. I am the Lead Disaster Relief Attorney for Legal Aid of Sonoma County. Our former Executive Director Ronit Rubnioff and myself started the Disaster Relief Program in 2017 in response to the Sonoma Complex Fires.
When we first began the Disaster Relief Program our goal was to help individuals and families work through the challenging process of recovery. From engaging in such work on a community level, we quickly discovered that disaster brings additional challenges that communities are often not adequately prepared to address and also highlights some of the pre-existing underlying inequities faced by members of the community. Unfortunately, these inequities lead to housing instability for many. While we often think of the families that directly lost their homes as a result of the disaster as being the ones impacted, the truth is a little more complicated.
Disasters generally destabilize housing for large sectors of the community. It is not only those whose homes were destroyed but also those who are in danger of losing their homes for other reasons such as disaster related job loss or inability to afford replacement food after the disaster caused a week long power outage. In reality, for many members of a disaster impacted community, they find themselves in a precarious housing situation at best and often face potential displacement multiple times before their housing becomes stable.
Since 2017 Sonoma County has seen multiple other fires, a flood, storm events, a pandemic and multiple excessive heat threat. Through these challenges we consistently saw many members of our community be displaced. To many community based organizations like Legal Aid once we identify such issues we have a need to find solutions and to advocate for that change. Housing instability due to disaster is one such issue that has only become more important as our communities continue to face climate related challenges. In the United States in 2010 there were roughly 10 $1 billion dollar weather related events in the Country by this point in 2024 there have been 22 and the year is not over yet.
The work we have done within the community along with the increasing importance of addressing issues of climate justice presented an opportunity for Sonoma County to take meaningful action to serve as an example for other communities. I believe this is what we accomplished by working tirelessly and collaboratively to advocate for a temporary disaster triggered eviction moratorium that will allow us to keep people in their homes while we identify the financial resources necessary to get them back on their feet. This effort will prove invaluable and serve to begin addressing the housing crisis in Sonoma County by keeping people safely housed when the next disaster hits.
Lina Blanco
Communications & Cultural Strategist at North Bay Organizing Project
We appreciate the testimonies we have heard, as well as all the people who have organized, advocated and worked tirelessly for these protections. You are the ones who made this possible.
Policies like this are just one step toward a more just future as tenants continue to turn the devastation of disasters into necessary learning for our entire community.
The climate crisis is at our doorstep. We must respond with bold action if low-income, renters, immigrants and our undocumented neighbors are going to survive.
Everyone has a right to a dignified roof and a just recovery. NBOP, and our partners, will continue to organize for a future where we:
End price-gouging after disasters
Develop leaders ready govern
Create policies incentivizing community-ownership of land and housing
And normalize a new vision of social housing
This win is a powerful reminder that collective grassroots action drives real and impactful change.
While we celebrate this win today, we have more work to do and we have the vision to do it. By centering impacted voices and stories, and training leaders, we will continue to organize the radical and just transition necessary to keep our folks safe and housed during and after disasters.
We are now opening this up for Q&A. If you would like to schedule a follow up interview, please email us at comms@northbayop.org.
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