Once again, the San Mateo City Council has rejected a rent control proposal — this time in the form of an onerous relocation-assistance program.
The City Council’s decision Monday came after three hours of public testimony from local property owners, managers and real estate professionals about the dangers of the proposal.
The relocation-assistance ordinance would have forced rental housing providers to keep rent increases below 10 percent or face paying up to $21,500 for residents to vacate the unit – even after the end of a lease term.
“This proposal takes from one group and gives to another; taking rights from one group and giving it to another,” property manager Richard Delaney told the council, as reported in this San Mateo Daily Journal article. “Those who lose rights will be forced to litigate this in court. It does nothing to alleviate the problem. It is poor public policy and I urge you to reject it.”
Opposing the emergency ordinance, the California Apartment Association raised concerns over the proposal’s legality and outlined its objections in this letter to the San Mateo city attorney.
The ordinance would have violated the state’s Costa-Hawkins Act by making the relocation payments applicable to single-family home rentals and units constructed post-1995. In addition, the ordinance is unconstitutionally vague, making it problematic to implement.
Property owners echoed CAA’s stance that the proposal was onerous, punitive and compromised the ability of rental housing providers to continue offering safe, quality housing to their residents.
John D. Eudy, an executive vice president of Essex Property Trust, said the relocation-assistance ordinance not only would fail to solve the area’s housing shortage, but could worsen the situation and even be abused.
“The way this is drafted should not be passed tonight,” Eudy said. “It’s just a bad option.”
After a staff presentation and council discussion that included a review of CAA’s legal analysis, the City Council voiced several concerns over the ordinance and its wording and opted not to move forward with the proposal. CAA applauds the council’s decision.
At the same time, CAA understands that the entire community is dealing with a difficult situation and that there is no silver bullet to solve the housing challenges facing the region. Moreover, CAA seeks to continue working with the San Mateo City Council to focus on positive solutions for the community, such as building more housing, establishing permanent, local funding to develop and preserve affordable housing, educating the community on the value of high-density, transit-oriented development, and providing mechanisms for rental owners and their residents to resolve disputes.
Tenant representatives, intent on placing a rent control measure before voters, did not attend Monday’s meeting.
Earlier this month, tenant advocates in San Mateo began efforts to qualify a rent control-related ballot measure for the November 2016 election. This filing came just one day after the San Mateo City Council voted 3-2 against rent control and a just-cause eviction policy.
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