TENANTS RIGHTS - Palm Springs is taking steps to educate residents about their rights as tenants through a series of workshops. Riverside Legal Aid and the city are organizing workshops that target low-income residents.
The goal is to help vulnerable residents, including seniors on fixed incomes, understand their rights and protections. The sessions cover topics like a tenant’s right to safe and well-maintained housing and facts about eviction defense.
In Palm Springs, an estimated 38% of housing is occupied by renters, compared to about 60% of housing that owners occupy. Rent has increased by about 65% in five years, but wages have not kept up with the cost of living expenses. About 30% of residents who rent say their payments take up more than half their household income.
Riverside Legal Aid helps attendees learn how to get landlords to fix issues that violate California habitability laws, such as leaky plumbing, broken heaters, and unsafe carpets.
The workshops also teach tenants to beware of illegal rent increases.In California, landlords cannot raise rent more than 10% total or 5% plus the percentage change in the cost of living—whichever is lower—over a 12-month period.
Kitty Alvarado, the city’s public information officer, explained that landlords can get around the law by making tenants pay for utilities that were previously included in rent.
“Those increases often cause the total monthly amount paid by the residents to exceed the amount of rent increase that they can be charged,” Alvarado said. Landlords also often refuse to provide justifications for utility charges.
Still, compared to other cities in the county, Alvarado said Palm Springs does not appear to suffer from the problem of “slumlords,” landlords who repeatedly break the laws around housing.
“This does not mean that there are not landlords in Palm Springs who fail to respect the rights of their tenants and their legal obligations as landlords,” Alvarado said.
Palm Springs has its own Rent Control Ordinance, which works alongside state laws and the Mobile Home Residency Law to protect tenants.
The city is working to prevent unfair evictions and substandard housing. Palm Springs has a Rent Stabilization ordinance that caps rent increases and regulates deposits.
If a resident is aware of a landlord breaking city ordinances, they can file a complaint with Code Enforcement, who will investigate, inspect the property, and may issue a violation or fine.
Beyond code enforcement complaints, Riverside Legal Aid, a co-host of the workshop, can provide free legal assistance to qualified low-income residents.
The workshops occur regularly throughout the month online and at in-person locations throughout the city. The next workshop is on Wednesday, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., at the Palm Springs Public Library.
(Kendall Balchan was born and raised in the Coachella Valley and brings deep local knowledge and context to every story. Before joining The Post, she spent three years as a producer and investigative reporter at NBC Palm Springs. In 2024, she was honored as one of the rising stars of local news by the Coachella Valley Journalism Foundation. This article was first published in The Palm Springs Post.)
