Every year, the California state legislature drafts thousands of bills, many of which are aimed at addressing our state’s housing crisis. Not every bill becomes a law, but those that do are meaningless without our enforcement work.

For a scrappy team of four, we’re punching far above our own weight. Doing so takes staff time, legal fees, research hours, and lots of other resources.

 

Here are the two levels of the AWN and what you get:

Avocado ($120+/year or $10/month)

An online discussion group: We’re creating an email list and slack community. This is an online space to talk all things housing law with your fellow CaRLA Avocados, to discuss and debate urbanist topics.

Events and passes: Throughout the year, receive free tickets to our workshops, panels, events, and more! These events are an opportunity to learn about state housing law, get insight from leading figures and network with fellow Avocados.

Guacamole ($300+/year or $25/month)

Includes all of the above, PLUS

Q&A conference calls: We have periodic discussions by phone or slack chat with CaRLA staff, volunteers, and collaborators to dive deeper into our news and advocacy.

Limited edition AWN Pin: Show off your houser pride with one of our exclusive Avocado Watch Network enamel pins. Your nearly 2″ tall pin is designed to be easily visible from the dais of most city councils, letting your city attorney mean you know business and that CaRLA is watching out for all of our future neighbors.

We rely on our statewide network of grassroots organizers to keep tabs on the 58 counties and 482 cities in California. With so many cities to watch, its easy to see why enforcement is so difficult.

Why join?

The state of California’s department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has a budget just under $1M. This gets them seven staff members who must assist with and keep oversight of the housing strategies of all counties and cities in the state of California. Even with seven staff members, the department lacks the capacity to thoroughly vet every city’s housing element, let alone track down every violation of housing law. In contrast, CaRLA has a much smaller budget that pays for three full-time staff members and roughly 6 lawsuits per year. We are quick to suss out violations of housing law; often times these cases are referred to us by state officials because HCD doesn’t have the capacity, but even that doesn’t catch everything. Much of our operating funds come from large grants; your membership helps us depend less on this unstable, unpredictable source of funding.

Be our eyes and ears on the ground

Members of CaRLA keep an eye out for potential violations of housing law as part of our Avocado Watch Network. They read our newsletter, answer our calls to action, and participate in our community discussions via slack or email. When we file lawsuits for violations of state housing law, we ask our Avocado Watch Network volunteers to become local plaintifs.

How to Join

Joining the Avocado Watch is easy! Simply sign up for a monthly recurring contribution using the Join Now button on this page.