Tenant Sanctuary (https://tenantsanctuary.org) is a tenants rights education service located in Santa Cruz, California. We opened our doors in April 2019.

Through trained tenant counselors and our staff attorney, we help tenants understand what rights they have in a given situation, as well as how to assert them. We also organize educational events through community partners. Our services are provided free of charge.

We answer questions about
-Rent Increases
-Eviction
-Repairs and habitability
-Security Deposits
-Harassment
-Lease Provisions
-And any issue regarding tenant-landlord disputes.

Tenant Sanctuary does not provide legal representation, but we welcome any tenant with a question about their rental situation to contact us and talk to our counselors or staff attorney.

We are raising money in order to provide a financial buffer for ourselves in the next few months. We are afforded a relatively small budget by the City of Santa Cruz and are concerned that we will run short in May and June. This would force us to close in a tenuous time for renters, as the current coronavirus eviction protections for non-payment of rent only extend through the end of June. We need to be available to help renters understand the specifics of their rights around eviction, harassment, and rent repayment. Despite some vaccine availability, the coronavirus is still a present threat and an eviction can seriously threaten someone's health and life. We need homes to shelter in place!

We welcome your contributions here, but you can also set up a recurring contribution by visiting the website of our nonprofit fiscal sponsor (http://www.santacruzhub.org/) and clicking their Paypal link in the middle of the page. Be sure to select "Tenant Sanctuary" from the dropdown menu!