Hello All from Marisol!
Who is a good neighbor? Simply put, someone who looks out not only for their own personal interest, but also for the interest of those around them. Treating others as we ourselves would like to be treated. Twice my little dog Frodo has run out into the streets and two different neighbors have come to our rescue! Thank you, good neighbors! This next story is a perfect example of what it means to be a good neighbor. Shout out to Betsy Bohuslavsky, a member of La Fuente Ministries and Bert Newton, one of our own here at Making Housing and Community Happen, for being good neighbors and building this Beloved Community we call Pasadena!
Stories in this issue
- Join us for an hour-long “MHCH 101” and learn how you can engage in our housing justice work, a monthly series starting at 7 pm on Tuesday, March 7.
- Building the Beloved Community is Fundamental to Organizing for Justice by Bert Newton.
- Join Our Affordable/Supportive Housing Advocates (ASHA)!
- A Time to Mourn the Deaths of Our Homeless Neighbors….by Anthony Manousos.
- Homeless Memorial at All Saint Church in Pasadena on Monday, March 6, at 6:00 pm
- LA County Faith Summit on Homelessness: 9:00 am-1:00 pm, March 9 at Lake Ave Church.
- 2023 State Housing and Homeless Bills—Which ones do we support? And how? MHCH Housing Justice Forum on Tuesday, March 28, at 7 pm.
- How the US made affordable housing illegal (video) with intro by Anthony Manousos.
Building the Beloved Community Is Fundamental to Organizing for Justice, by Bert Newton
Claiming rent control rights has provided an opportunity to build stronger relationships of solidarity. I’ve been going out to churches to spread the word that, under measure H, many Pasadena renters are due a rent rollback and, possibly, a refund. As of January 1, rent on units covered by the rent control portion of Measure H (click here to find out if your unit is covered) should have rolled back to whatever the rent was on May 17, 2021, and if the tenant overpaid rent in January, February, or March, then the tenant is owed a refund or can take it off of the next month’s rent.
But, of course, many landlords are not letting their tenants know about the rent rollback, and many tenants don’t know about it.
Nevertheless, due to our outreach efforts, some people are not only beginning to claim their rent rollbacks, they are also telling other tenants about it and forming relationships with their neighbors, creating bonds of solidarity that are crucial to building what Dr. Martin Luther King called the “beloved community.”
Betsy Bohuslavsky, a member of La Fuente Ministries, started talking to a couple of neighbors in her building, and then I assisted her in going door-to-door to talk to the rest of them.
It’s recommended that tenants who have the same landlord act together to claim their rent rollback so that the landlord cannot retaliate against one person.
Betsy noted that she was not only protecting herself by getting the neighbors involved but also building community in a place where normally everyone tends to keep to themselves.
We talked about how relationships and community are necessary in the work to build sustainable justice and how that is what Jesus did when he travelled throughout Galilee and Judea. Jesus brought people together through free healing (healthcare) and food and then taught the people about the beloved community, which he called the Kingdom of God/Heaven.
As we work together for housing justice, we too can find ways to connect with our neighbors and draw them into the work to build the beloved community so that we can transform our city into one that is just and sustainable.
To learn more about your new rights as a Pasadena tenant, and to obtain a “toolkit” to help you obtain your rights, go to http://pasadenatenantsunion.org.
You also can click here to watch our MHCH Forum on Rent Control.
Making Housing and Community Happen 
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