Rent control changed my life. I'm running to protect it.

I believe in rent control because I have lived the difference it makes. I'm a homeowner in Sunset Park now, but I was a renter for 16 years first.

In market rate apartments, I watched my rent jump 50% in a single year, then lost the place I downsized to when the landlord sold it. After being displaced too many times, my husband and I deliberately sought out rent-controlled housing, and the stability that market rate units never gave us. We stayed eight years. That rent-controlled unit is where we had our first child and built our family while saving toward a home of our own.

I'm running for the Rent Control Board to defend that stability, and our city's socioeconomic diversity, against the many threats rent control faces, especially state housing laws that don't protect rent-controlled stock enough. I believe rent control boards should lead the effort to fight back against one-size-fits-all housing legislation that hurts Santa Monica's rent control tenants.

At the same time, I welcome new housing that's planned locally, truly affordable, and thoughtfully located. I'll advocate for policies that help residents of rent-controlled housing make Santa Monica home for the long run, and for their neighborhoods, and all neighborhoods, to remain livable.