Rent control has allowed Evangelina Lara and her family to live in the same apartment in Oakland's San Antonio neighborhood for 20 years. Recently, a large corporation bought the building and sought to evict all the tenants by illegally raising the rent and then flipping their units. Using protections under the rent control law, with support from Causa Justa :: Just Cause, Evangelina and her neighbors successfully fought the rent increases and were able to maintain their affordable rents and stay in the city.

Photo: Felix Uribe