“Renters with disabilities across Oakland are harmed by the lack of accessible units covered by the city’s rent stabilization program,” said Sean Betouliere, a staff attorney at Disability Rights Advocates, one of two nonprofits handling the class-action case. “I worry that many have already been forced out of the City because they need to live in accessible units and, as a result, have no opportunity to access rent stabilization.”

Disability Rights Advocates and the Public Interest Law Project say they have no hard data for how many people the suit might cover, but they estimate that as of 2017, around 16,000 Oakland renters had disabilities that made walking or navigating stairs difficult or impossible.

Read the full article by Emily DeRuy in the East Bay Times here.