When Monzella Curtis moved into his Hayward apartment in 2003, he worked to keep his apartment rent-stabilized after the owner erroneously registered it as non-stabilized. Now, the retired paramedic spends time volunteering with the Hayward Collective to strengthen renter protections. Seeing his neighbor who had just been diagnosed with stage three cancer evicted for no cause motivated him to advocate for a citywide just cause eviction policy, which passed in March 2019.

Photo: Felix Uribe