California Apartment Association

The Richmond City Council will hold a special meeting at 6 tonight to implement rent control and just-cause eviction more quickly than previously planned.

The council had decided to implement rent control effective Dec. 1, but this past Tuesday, a council member proposed fast-tracking the ordinance so it would take effect in September. See video

Since the council is entering its August recess, the move triggered the need for a series of special meetings.

Assuming the council approves rent control tonight with an earlier start date  — the four votes needed to do so are there — it would then need to approve the ordinance again following a second reading to be scheduled no earlier than Wednesday, Aug. 5. Initially, the second reading was scheduled for Monday, Aug. 3, but this meeting will instead focus on other unfinished business facing the council.

Initially, approval for rent control in Richmond came by a 4-1 vote July 21. In the days that followed, the pro-rent control group Tenants Together issued a statement celebrating the decision and touting a rent control toolkit that offers cities guidelines for implementing the policy. Richmond will become the first Bay Area city to adopt rent control in decades. In addition to wanting earlier implementation, the pro-rent control members of the council apparently now also want to stop 30/60-day termination notices from being served.

The California Apartment Association, meanwhile, continues to battle rent control on several fronts. CAA’s efforts include commissioning an economic study expected to illuminate the negative impacts of rent control, including the deterioration of the existing rental housing stock in communities that institute this flawed policy.

Moreover, Tom Bannon, CAA’s chief executive officer, appeared as a guest on KQED radio’s talk show Forum, on which he argued against rent control during a debate with Dean Preston of Tenants Together. Click here to read about the show and download the audio.

Richmond, assuming rent control moves forward, will join about a half-dozen other Bay Area cities that have the policy. Under Richmond’s ordinance, rent control will apply to approximately 10,000 of the city’s 21,000 rental units.  The just-cause portion of the ordinance will affect all 21,000.  The ordinance will add seven full-time city employees and will cost the city up to $2.2 million annually, which will solely become the responsibility of rental property owners in Richmond, regardless of whether they have rent-controlled units. They will have no ability to share any of the program fee costs with tenants.

Related content:

• Rent control stalls in Richmond, at least for now (San Francisco Chronicle, July 30)
• Richmond: Council slowed by bickering over new rent control ordinance (Contra Costa Times, July 29)
• Call to action: Help stop rent control in Richmond (CAA, July 10)