HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/4/2024 Item Public Comment, Altman
Juls D. Altman <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Public comment 6/4 or 6/18
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Dear city council,
As one of your cons?tuents, I would like to comment on some of the housing injus?ce in SLO and urge the city council to
take more ac?on with providing affordable housing to residents. I understand that the city has some ini?a?ves for
housing planned and also is backed up with other projects, but this as a Cal Poly student and a concerned resident who
canvasses housing complexes around SLO frequently, I believe that this should be city council’s top priority.
During canvassing for the SLO Tenants Union a few weeks ago, I encountered a family in sec?on 8 housing. The parents
were DACA and their two daughters were ci?zens. They told us that their previous landlord refused to renew their lease
in their last apartment with be?er living condi?ons because they wanted to rent it out to “different types of people.”
The management property for their previous apartment have not faced any consequences and I am deeply ashamed in
SLO city legislature that this is not the first or last family that we have encountered with a similar story. Their new
apartment was smaller, had black mold, and the landlord did not allow them to water a small garden they had on their
porch. Since the family is DACA, they also felt unsafe taking any ac?on against this injus?ce.
This kind of story is not uncommon, and unfortunately, many of the folks it happens to are undocumented immigrants
who are not English speakers and fear for their safety if they were to report their condi?ons, which is why I feel that as
an English speaking natural born ci?zen, I should use my voice for those who cannot use theirs. The first step to this is
collec?ng data, as the city of SLO has very li?le informa?on on how many rental units there are in SLO and the mean
rent, which is, to be frank, a bit absurd for a city to not have informa?on on. I highly encourage the city council to
regulate management proper?es in SLO and give protec?ons to those who are fearful of the corpora?ons that control
their living condi?ons.
Thank you,
Juls Altman
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