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The California Apartment Association has asked Bay Area health officers to adopt a uniform set of guidelines for the opening of pools, gyms, and other amenities at apartment communities.
In a letter to area health officers, CAA points out that recently published guidelines for reopening swimming pools have differed from county to county, which can lead to confusion when rolling out reopening rules at the rental property. This is especially true of companies that manage properties in multiple jurisdictions.
Tagged: COVID-19
The California Apartment Association is opposing a recommendation from a regional policy committee that the state Legislature impose rent control and “just cause” eviction restrictions across the entire nine-county Bay Area. The entire plan, if adopted by the Legislature, could cost as much as $2 billion per year.
CAA this week restated its objections to the recommendation, which is part of a plan promoted by the Committee to House the Bay Area, or CASA, which is sponsored by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
CASA spent 18 months developing recommendations for state legislation to address the housing crisis experienced by the Bay… Read More
The California Apartment Association has secured a voice on the Committee to House the Bay Area, a task force launching a 16-month campaign to help solve the region’s housing crisis.
Tagged: Affordable housing Tri-County
The Concord City Council this week rejected a proposal to temporarily cap rent increases at 3 percent per year.
The urgency measure Tuesday received two yes votes but needed four to pass. The failure of the proposed 45-day rent-increase moratorium came amid a cooldown in the Bay Area’s rental housing market. In Concord, rents have recently dropped for one-bedroom and three-bedroom units.
“I really can’t, in my heart, find the urgency issue citywide,” said Mayor Hoffmeister, as reported in this East Bay Times article.
Concord staff will now look into creating a mediation program to help resolve disputes between tenants… Read More
Tagged: Rent Control Contra Costa
Voters on Tuesday rejected strict rent control laws in Burlingame, San Mateo and Alameda but approved them in Richmond and Mountain View.
All five measures proposing rent control faced strong opposition from local property owners, homeowners, businesses, real estate groups and the California Apartment Association.
In Burlingame and Alameda, voters rejected rent control by a roughly 2-1 margin. Ballots cast in favor of Burlingame’s Measure R garnered 33 percent of the vote, while yes votes for Alameda’s M1 earned 34 percent. In San Mateo, the rent control measure also failed decidedly, with Measure Q receiving just 39 percent approval.
Several months after imposing stricter rent control in San Jose, the city is holding a series of hearings on further changes to its rent ordinance.
In May, the City Council lowered the maximum annual rent increase on rent controlled units from 8 percent to 5 percent, a change that took effect the following month. The council also greenlighted further changes to its rent ordinance and directed the Housing Department to incorporate them into a draft ordinance.
The city is now holding a series of public meetings on those recommended changes. These hearings offer the city’s housing providers an opportunity to… Read More
The Alameda City Council on Wednesday night approved a temporary freeze on rent increases in excess of 8 percent.
The moratorium, which also includes just-cause for eviction, is scheduled to last 65 days. Moreover, the 8 percent cap applies cumalitively over 12 months, meaning that if a property owner gave an increase of 5 percent four months ago, the owner is limited to a 3 percent increase now. See the ordinace for more details.
Dozens of CAA members attended the meeting, helping to keep the moratorium temporary. Tenant groups were seeking permanent rent control.
The meeting at one point turned… Read More
Contra Costa County’s registrar of voters Oct. 13 certified CAA’s referendum to repeal rent control and just-cause eviction in Richmond.
This past summer, Richmond became the first city in California to approve rent control in roughly three decades. A CAA-led effort to collect thousands of signatures prevented Richmond’s rent control and just-cause eviction ordinance from taking effect.
Now that Contra Costa County’s registrar has counted and certified the signatures, it’s up to Richmond City Council members to either repeal the ordinance themselves or schedule the issue for a public vote.
Several cities around the Bay Area this fall are considering the adoption of rent control or making current rent control policies more onerous. Quelling this political movement will take coordination among both California Apartment Association staff and CAA members.
At present, CAA continues its dialogue with elected officials, government staffers and property owners in each of these communities. Among the hottest centers of debate are San Jose, Santa Rosa, San Mateo, Alameda and Mountain View.
CAA continues to educate council members and the public about why rent control fails wherever it’s implemented. At the same time, CAA’s public affairs team… Read More
By AMY DREW THOMPSON
On the heels of the vampire trends in pop culture, bed bugs are back. And they’re in it for the long haul.
What began as a scourge reinfesting the cities of the Eastern seaboard has moved steadily westward, enjoying human blood meals along the way. The Golden State, the experts say, has not yet seen the worst of it.
“Increased travel, increased use of second-hand items, changes in indoor pest management practices and pesticide resistance within some bed bug populations are potential factors driving their resurgence,” says board-certified entomologist Andrew M. Sutherland, Ph. D, and the… Read More
Tagged: News Pests and Pest Control