Alameda’s Prosecution and Public Rights Unit [1] (PPRU), part of the City Attorney’s Office, has released its 2025 Annual Report [2]. The unit is the only one of its kind in Northern California, dedicated to representing the People of the State of California in misdemeanor criminal matters and enforcing fair housing and consumer protection laws.
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National award for tenant protection
In 2025, the City Attorney’s Office received the American Bar Association’s Hodson Award [4], a prestigious national honor presented annually to one government or public-sector law office for outstanding performance and extraordinary service. The award recognized the Office’s “urgency and resolve to protect 50 families living on floating homes in the Barnhill Marina from imminent housing displacement.”
The Bar Association noted, “a new landlord sought to increase skip rents by as much as 178%. Such a rent increase would have put many tenants at risk of becoming unhoused. About 50% of tenants were over the age of 65. Many were low-income or fixed-income households and without the means to absorb such rent increases.”
The Alameda City Attorney’s Office immediately drafted and defended an urgency ordinance [5] to extend local rent control protections to maritime residential tenancies. In November 2024, the Alameda County Superior Court ruled fully in favor of the City, imposing more than $335,000 in penalties against the marina owners and issuing a permanent injunction to prevent further harassment of tenants.
Victim Services Program approved
The PPRU also reached a major milestone with the unanimous approval of its first-in-City Victim Services Program [6]. Through this initiative, PPRU victim advocates now provide crisis intervention, case management, and support services to victims and witnesses of crime throughout the criminal justice process. To support this work, the PPRU also secured $500,000 in federal grant funding through the Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program.
Advocates educate victims about their rights, connect them with available services, resources, housing, and financial support and act as a liaison between victims and criminal justice personnel, agencies, other City departments, and community partners.
The California State Victim Compensation Board [7] (CalVCB) covers expenses like medical/dental bills, income loss, ambulance, counseling, relocation, funeral/burial, crime scene cleanup in homicide cases, and support for dependents of deceased and disabled crime victims. For any victim compensation program related questions, please contact the Victim Services Unit at 510-206-1657.
[8]Impact
Now in its sixth year of operation, the 2025 PPRU Annual Report highlights the unit’s continuing impact, including fielding more than 1,100 housing and consumer protection inquiries and opening dozens of investigations to protect Alameda residents and ensure compliance with the law. The prosecution team reviewed more than 1,200 cases for charging—a 50% increase over 2024’s record-setting 800 cases—and successfully resolved 455 cases with an 85% favorable outcome rate.
Fair Housing and Consumer Protection: In 2025 the Public Rights team received 1,102 inquiries from the public, yielding 92 complaints. The Unit closed 94 cases over the year.
Criminal Prosecutions: Since its creation by Alameda voters through the adoption of Measure AA in 2020, the PPRU has been tasked with prosecuting all state law misdemeanor offenses, including misdemeanor wobbler offenses (i.e., crimes that can be charged as either a felony or a misdemeanor) within the City of Alameda. Cases have encompassed a wide range of state law offenses, including thefts, commercial burglaries, reckless driving, DUIs, assaults (including assaults with deadly weapons), sexual batteries, and weapons/firearms offenses.
The City Attorney’s Office works collaboratively with the Alameda Police Department (APD) and the District Attorney’s Office to review and process these incidents thoroughly and expeditiously and to commence criminal actions where appropriate.
More information
If you have questions or would like more information about the Prosecution and Public Rights Unit, please call 510-747-4772 or email [email protected] [9].