Soli Alpert for Rent Board

Soli Alpert was born and raised in San Francisco California, coming to Berkeley in 2015 to attend Cal. He quickly became involved in local progressive activism, first with UC Berkeley Students for Bernie, which became the Progressive Students Association, and then with the campaign of now-Councilmember Kate Harrison in 2017. After her victory, he joined her staff as a part time Legislative Assistant. In 2018, he and Councilmember Rigel Robinson were both elected representing Berkeley’s student community on the Rent Board and Council respectively, and Soli transitioned to working in Councilmember Robinson’s office full time. In 2019, Soli worked with his coworkers to unionize the City of Berkeley’s Legislative Assistants with SEIU 1021, the union representing most City of Berkeley employees. He now serves as a Union Steward and COPE representative in 1021. He was elected Vice Chair of the Rent Board by his colleagues in 2020, and again in 2021.

Soli’s focus legislatively is on workers’ and tenants’ rights, affordable housing and anti-speculation and anti-displacement policy, and open and transparent governance reforms. As a Commissioner and now Vice Chair, Soli has collaborated on proposals to expand the coverage of eviction control to more Berkeley tenants, shone a light on government inaction to protect tenants facing dangerous and uninhabitable living conditions, and advocated for mitigations in City upzoning proposals to protect vulnerable communities from displacement.

Soli is also active in progressive Democratic politics, being twice elected as an ADEM Delegate from AD 15 to the State Democratic Party Central Committee, and serving as Administrative Coordinator for the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club and Alternate Member at the Alameda County Democratic Party Central Committee.

Soli is a proud socialist and member of East Bay DSA. He is also a member of Local Progress, a national coalition of local progressive elected officials.

Twitter: @SoliAlpert