Hello Lydia,

Late Tuesday evening, after over 4-hours of public comment and 2-hours of City Council debate and discussion on the best edits, we passed the Tenant Protection Ordinance to Prevent Displacement and Homelessness. The passage of the policy was the result of an incredible amount of work. My team spent over a year and a half on the effort from start to finish. We’d then spent about six months negotiating in partnership with Mayor Gloria, community advocates, and rental industry representatives. Community advocates have fought to strengthen protections for years.

For me, the passage of the Tenant Protection Ordinance was a key marker in what has been a journey that began over a decade ago in a portable classroom at Hoover High School in City Heights. It was there, while interning at a legal clinic, where I gained a newfound appreciation of the potential for policy as a tool to make widespread impact.

Week after week, the most common issue community members sought assistance with was housing. We heard from renters who had received eviction notices despite not doing anything wrong or who were facing significant increases in rent they would not be able to afford. Others were living in slum-like conditions and facing threats of being reported for their immigration status if they spoke up.

The work was often heartbreaking and always felt important. It also became quite frustrating. No matter how many people we were able to help at one clinic there would be a new group of folks facing the same issues the following week. Moreover, in many instances, the challenges the community faced were allowable under the law. Midway through the internship I was convinced the impact I wanted to make in the community was less likely to come via legal work and more likely to come via policy work.

On day one of going into effect, San Diego’s new Tenant Protection Ordinance will expand rights for hundreds of thousands of San Diegans. They will have protections on the first day of their lease, they will receive a lifeline of support when they are forced to move at no-fault of their own, and they will have better access to legal representation to ensure their rights are respected. This is precisely the sort of broad impact I envisioned when I made the decision to pursue a career in policy change.

However, while I envisioned the widespread benefits of policy change, I did not foresee what I would gain from the process — the inspiration of seeing community members drive change and the pride in seeing my team work tirelessly to turn an idea into an approved policy.

Over the past several years, a multiracial, multiethnic coalition of community members from across San Diego banded together in common cause to protect their families, friends, and neighbors from the impacts of the City’s insufficient tenant protections. The nonprofit advocates from ACCE, the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans, Labor Council, and the Legal Aid Society of San Diego were relentless. They were told “no” and “not yet” and that they were asking for too much, but that didn’t stop them. They kept pushing, they courageously shared their stories, and lifted the issue up until it could no longer be ignored.

In my office, we often talk about taking on tough fights to pursue our values. Our belief that housing is a human right has often put us in the line of sight of some very angry opponents. However, our belief in that right is unwavering. That is especially true of my friend and our team lead on this issue, Maya Rosas. Maya believes stable housing is fundamental to a person being able to achieve their potential in life. She transferred that belief into countless hours of research and ferocious advocacy to deliver a final product that recognized the importance of compromise without compromising our values. She demonstrated the exact type of principled and nuanced work that our office prides ourselves in and I am so proud and appreciative of Maya and our chief of staff, Lydia, for all they did to make Tuesday a success.

There is still plenty more work to do before our goal of housing for all is realized. There are more fights on the horizon and there is no guarantee that the next fight will conclude with the result we desire. In the meantime, I am so grateful for the experiences I gained back at that legal clinic in City Heights and for all of the people who helped turn that belief in positive change through policy into a win for over half of all of the residents of San Diego.

With gratitude, 

Sean