“Tiny houses make a lot of sense given the housing market in Berkeley,” said Osha Neumann, staff attorney at the East Bay Community Law Center. The center is helping YSA with the legal part of the approval process. “There is a lack of low-income subsidized housing, and we’re not going to find apartments that the homeless can rent. The question is what is Berkeley willing to do to deal with that situation. So far, it hasn’t done very much.”

Melissa Colon, who works with the East Bay Community Law Center, said her organization has seen a lot of cases in Oakland and Berkeley of people with low incomes being driven out of their homes as landlords try to attract new tenants who they can charge more.

UpFront speaks with Theresa Zhen, Staff Attorney at the Clean Slate Practice of the East Bay Community Law Center and member of the Back on the Road California Coalition, which fights for traffic court reform. She is also a co-author of Ability to Pay Implementation in Traffic Court: A Toolkit for Advocates. Theresa tells us about ways to get your traffic tickets expunged.

SAN FRANCISCO—California Governor Edmund G. Brown signed Senate Bill 393 on October 11, the Consumer Arrest Record Equity (C.A.R.E.) Act, to seal arrest records and halt barriers to employment and housing for individuals arrested, but never convicted of a crime. The CARE Act, which was signed into law by the governor, was authored by State Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) and was sponsored by San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón.  The law goes into effect January 1, 2018.

Information on legal resources for those affected by the fires and where to help or donate.

Before starting “Berkeley Breathes,” Whiting had been volunteering his time with Osha Neumann, an attorney with the East Bay Community Law Center who works closely with Berkeley’s homeless community, according to Whiting’s father Robbie Whiting.

SACRAMENTO—Yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 190, a major, bipartisan juvenile justice reform bill that will improve youth rehabilitation and increase public safety. Effective January 1, 2018, SB 190 ends the harmful, unlawful and costly practice of charging administrative fees to families with youth in the juvenile system.

Dana Lueck-Mammen ’19 and Trevor Kosmo ’19 recently won the annual Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) Award for Excellence in Legal Research and Writing at Berkeley Law. During a luncheon ceremony, each received a framed certificate and a $2,500 check from Stephanie Walker, CEB’s Product Strategy and Innovation Manager.

Salma Mayorquin, an undocumented campus senior and DACA recipient, said in an email that she visited the East Bay Community Law Center’s office hours on campus to get assistance with her renewal application.

On Tuesday, Hardy attended a rally in front of City Hall, where about 40 tenants rights groups and renters demanded that the city take action to close 10 loopholes in Oakland’s renter-protection laws. They said those gaps allow unscrupulous owners to hike rents and displace low- and middle-income tenants.