Bio
Leah Simon-Weisberg is an expert and statewide leader on rent control, landlord-tenant law, and anti-displacement policy. She is presently the Legal Director for Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE.) She represented Moms 4 Housing in court, fighting for their right to live in an empty corporate-owned home on the grounds that Housing is a Human Right. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, she organized elected officials to pass eviction moratoria, including a permanent ban on the eviction of tenants for the inability to pay rent accrued during the pandemic.
As the Directing Attorney of the Tenant Rights Practice at Centro Legal de la Raza, Oakland, she oversaw the anti-displacement programs for the County of Alameda and City of Oakland. She wrote and directed policy initiatives which led to historic increases in rent control and just cause for eviction protections in Oakland and across Alameda County.
Leah was a founding board member of Tenants Together and eventually became the Legal Director. She managed the statewide litigation practice which included class action and multi-plaintiff fair housing, habitability, tenant contract and consumer rights matters. She regularly provided technical assistance on rent control and tenant protections during the foreclosure crisis. Leah joined the historic fight to pass new rent control ordinances in November 2016. The ordinance she drafted for Richmond, California passed and marked the first new rent control ordinance in almost 30 years.
Before attending law school at Northeastern University, School of Law, Leah worked for Senator Barbara Boxer in her San Francisco Office and served as a Peace Corp Volunteer in Morocco. She graduated from Earlham College and majored in Peace and Global Studies. She speaks Spanish, Moroccan Arabic and French.
She is the Chair of the Elected Berkeley Rent Board.