From housing to health care, San Diego women get a primer on their rights

Whether it’s a sudden notice from your landlord that you’re about to be evicted or you need quick and affordable access to a physician, women aren’t always armed with the legal background to defend their rights.

San Diego County’s Commission on the Status of Women and Girls sought to change that Saturday with a series of panels presented by experts in the fields of housing, health care, employment and immigration.

Melinda Vasquez, who chairs the county commission, said she knows all too well the lack of knowledge many women have when it comes to their rights to demand access to the most basic necessities of life.

“In my providing pro bono legal services at the domestic violence clinic and the conservatorship clinic, I often reflect on how many women have never learned about their rights,” Vasquez told the attendees who had gathered at the Southeastern Live Well Center in San Diego’s Valencia Park community. “We intend to change that, one event at a time.”

Saturday’s symposium was made possible through a $32,000 grant awarded by the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. Vasquez noted that the commission is planning to hold in the future another event focusing exclusively on the trafficking of women.

The “know your rights” event attracted women who said they wanted to not only learn strategies for helping themselves but also to assist those they work with in their jobs and volunteer efforts.

“I thought this would be a really good fit for what we’re trying to do for Latina women as it relates to their rights and responsibilities,” said Beatrice Fernandez, who co-chairs the advocacy committee for the nonprofit group, Mana de San Diego. “For the community we represent, I think affordable housing is the most important thing so I wanted to hear different ideas they might have about providing housing for people who cannot rent because rents are too high or cannot buy or who are one paycheck away from being homeless.”

Speakers on the housing rights panel reminded attendees about the California Tenant Protection Act of 2019, which was designed to not only curb excessive rent hikes but also prevent unnecessary evictions.

Key takeaways from the session:

• Under the law, landlords in California are limited to annual rent increases of no more than 10 percent or 5 percent of the current rent plus the local rate of inflation, whichever is lower. Local jurisdictions have the right to enact even tougher rent increase protections.
• The legislation also has very clear regulations on what a landlord must do — and also what one cannot do — before trying to end a renter’s tenancy. “Landlords can’t just call up and say, ‘I want to end your tenancy, you need to move out, get out,'” said Heather Carmody with the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program. “That means that they can’t change the locks on a tenant, they can’t throw their belongings out on the yard, they can’t interrupt or cancel their utilities. They have to follow certain procedures. And for almost all tenancies, landlords need to provide advance written notice that they want to end a tenancy.”
• Once an unlawful detainer (eviction) case is filed with the court, be aware that it is an especially rapid process, advised Jennifer Monterroso of the Legal Aid Society of San Diego. “We call it the rocket docket, and we call it that for a reason,” she said. “So for example, when a landlord files a complaint, you have five days as the tenant to respond to that complaint. In a normal civil case, that timeline between getting the complaint and responding is usually 30 days. So five days is fast.”

Lisa Fitzpatrick, who works as a commission secretary for the county of San Diego, said she made a point of attending Saturday’s event because the issues of housing and health care hit close to home for her and her friends and family.

“I have housing but the rent levels are crazy,” said Fitzpatrick, who lives in Southeastern San Diego. “My rent just went up $200 this month. I also enjoy helping women and girls, and I am interested in the topic of teen health. I have several granddaughters. I also want to learn more about the issue of women’s health. I have a friend now who’s trying to figure out where to find a free mammogram.”

Tracy Skaddan, general counsel for Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, reassured her audience that in California, patients have the right to be “treated with consideration and respect,” and they also have the right to obtain information that they’re able to understand as it relates to options for treatment and overall health care.

“One of my favorites, as a person who works as a lawyer for Planned Parenthood, is your right to private and confidential communications with your providers,” she said. “That includes your records. Not just anybody can ask for your records. And you have the right to designate a visitor at a hospital, for example. This has changed. Years ago you had to be married or it had to be a blood relative. Now it can be anyone you want. You don’t have to have a registered domestic partnership or anything like that.”