By M.T.
April 4, 2026

I’ve lived in the South side of Merced since 2008. I love this part of town and we have good people living here but we need better leaders who care about our well-being and will actually represent us. 

The place I love has brought me endless problems but it’s the same place I raised my son in and built my life. It’s the same place I found my love for gardening and planting during the pandemic. The place where I try to relax and read my books, specifically history. I say all of this because I’m a real person who’s more than just a complaint file. 

But for years, I’ve been another tenant that people have ignored, and I’m tired. 

The City of Merced must put money behind protections that renters so desperately need. This includes: a fully-funded Anti-Slumlord Ordinance, placing stronger code enforcement requirements and instructions to inspect and reinspect unsafe units, and implementing resources similar to Fresno’s Eviction Protection Program, which could help tenants before their housing problems turn into evictions. 

In my home, I’ve been dealing with issues like mold, leaks, broken locks, and experienced harassment for speaking up about these conditions. 

And let me tell you that the mold is unbearable. Not just little patches you might see in your bathroom every now and then, but large amounts that spread everywhere on the walls, blinds, and even on the floors. Instead of addressing the problem, my landlord accused me of being filthy and causing the mold myself, but every week I clean the mold off my walls and it just makes its way back.

The heart of the problem is bigger than all of these issues — it’s being left to deal with it alone. Going through processes like proving the problem, making sure you’re documenting everything, while still protecting yourself, making sure you’re not blamed for someone else’s failure to do their job. 

I’m tired of repeatedly reporting leaks and having to wait for an answer that never comes. I’m exhausted from writing letters, sending emails, making calls, and having to show up in person to the Housing Authority Office just to get answers. It’s all starting to feel like asking for a safe place to live is somehow asking for way too much. 

I feel like I’m expected to adjust to conditions that should never be acceptable in the first place. 

When it’s one thing on top of another, and then another, it starts to wear down on your whole life. Over time, it’s affected my health not only physically but emotionally. Fighting everyday just to live here changes the way I feel when I wake up in the morning, and it tears me apart when my son tells me he doesn’t feel comfortable coming home.

And it’s not just me. Tenants across the City have also been dealing with severe habitability issues including mold, leaking plumbing, water shut-offs, non-functioning heaters, asbestos, etc. Many file complaints but we all just wait for months or even years to see any real action take place or we’re told to handle the repairs ourselves. 

Oh you don’t like those options? Then you’re told to simply leave and find a new place to live. 

How can city leaders hear all of this and keep allowing it to continue? We shouldn’t have to leverage our rights to see real improvements. 

This is why the City of Merced needs to invest in tenant protections now!

Yet, none of these policies and programs can work if they’re not actually built around protecting tenants. We need to be sure that real landlord penalties exist and are enforced to the highest degree. A public list of shame isn’t enough to expose negligent landlords. We need to know that if a landlord is designated as a repeat offender, current and new tenants will be notified clearly. We need to know that we are protected before, during, and after enforcement to avoid retaliation, and supported if conditions force us to move. 

Renters should not have to risk the roofs over their heads for reporting unlivable conditions. 

The City has the funding and the means to use federal and state funds for housing and public services. Are City officials willing to invest the time and money necessary into safe housing, accountable and stable programs, and tenant protections, or will they continue to delay progressive housing practices?