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action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home2/speakcit/public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114By Megan Burks<\/span> It’s one of the most frequent complaints among California tenants, but until this year there was little they could do about potentially hazardous mold in their units.<\/p>\n Now, state law considers mold a condition of substandard housing.<\/p>\n That means for the first time, renters can report mold problems to the city<\/a>, which can demand repairs and fine landlords who don’t comply.<\/p>\n Marc Whitham is a tenant rights attorney<\/a> who said he gets calls about mold on a daily basis. He said until last month, renters had little recourse but to move.<\/p>\n “There are areas like City Heights and Barrio Logan where there are many, many moldy properties,” Whitham said. “And it’s just like, ‘If you don’t want to live here, you’re free to move and I’ll find somebody else.’ And they do \u2014 especially if they get a sponge with some Clorox and then throw a fresh coat of paint on.”<\/p>\n Whitham said the problem is particularly bad in low-income communities, but he sees it across income brackets and was a victim of it himself.<\/p>\n “You’re not looking for every little defect under the sun and you might not notice that mold for several weeks or even months,” Whitham said. “By then you might open your closet and find all sorts of things are ruined, they’re just covered in mold. You lose mattresses.”<\/p>\n Mold is also linked to asthma and other respiratory problems. In a 2015 Speak City Heights investigation<\/a>, one tenant said mold in her bathroom sent her son to the emergency room with an asthma attack. She said the city code enforcement officer told her to “Google mold” for help dealing with it.<\/p>\n San Diego code enforcement officers are already addressing mold complaints under the new law, according to the city. It’s also added four enforcement officers focused on substandard housing<\/a> and increased response times.<\/p>\n California Sen. Holly Mitchell (Los Angeles\u2013D) authored the bill<\/a> to amend the Health and Human Safety Code that regulates housing conditions. The California Association of Code Enforcement Officers<\/a> and Oakland-based Regional Asthma Management and Prevention<\/a>co-sponsored it.<\/p>\n
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