Strong Protections v. Vulnerable Tenants: Investigating ‘Law in Action’ With Low-Income Renters in Oakland, CA

• In Event: 20216 - Housing Insecurity Among Low-Income Households

Abstract

The intense commodification of housing has generated a rich body of research on housing insecurity, which reflects and exacerbates hierarchical social relationships between property owners and the renter class (DeLuca and Rosen 2022; Desmond and Bell 2015; Dreier 1982; Pattillo 2013). Indeed, part of the housing crisis is driven by inadequate ways to protect tenants during disputes in which the power dynamic falls heavily in favor of housing providers. Strong tenant protection laws are intended to even the playing field by arming tenants with the power of the state against unscrupulous, exploitative landlords. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 80 low-income renters in the City of Oakland, I investigate whether tenant protection laws can improve housing security. I find the persistent state of financial precarity exacerbates key non-financial aspects of housing insecurity: the landlord-tenant relationship, availability of networks during the housing search, and knowledge of and confidence in the law. Therefore, while housing insecurity extends beyond unaffordability, low-income renters currently have little to no recourse to improve their housing security beyond increasing access to affordable housing.

Author

• Iris Zhang, Stanford University