The Alameda City Council approved last week a 60-day extension of the city's moratorium on rent increases and evictions, but dismissed the three proposed rent control ordinances.
The 60-day extension was decided after an eight-hour public testimony and deliberation on Jan. 6 held at Kofman Auditorium in Alameda High School. According to East Bay Express, the council did not approve any of the three rent control ordinances that were proposed during the said meeting.
The three proposals are as follows: first, a plan which favored landlords and strengthen the city Rent Review Advisory Committee (RRAC); second, a renter-friendly ordinance which has something to do with binding arbitration to settle rent disputes and restrict some "no-cause" eviction; and third, a compromise solution.
However, Contra Costa Times News reported that council members put some provisions in draft. The following ordinances, which must be ready by February, include the restriction for landlords to raise rents more than once in a year. The same ordinance also prohibits landlords to evict a renter in exchange of a much higher rent from someone else.
The city's Rent Review Advisory Committee should be changed, as per council's request, to handle arguments between renters and landlords.
Furthermore, raising a rent more than five percent will require landlords to go to the committee for a review. If both parties don't agree, mediation and binding arbitration must take place. Note that these requirements are only for those multifamily rental units constructed before February 1995.
"Alameda renters need an ordinance that provides stability in this community, that keeps families in their homes," Duane Moles of Alameda Renters Coalition said.
The moratorium was decided after the council was informed by a study conducted by specialist BAE Urban Economics. The study is about the neighborhood rental business sector and the potential relocation of long term tenants. According to the study, what helped drive the demand for affordable housing is the fact that the leaseholder wage is not keeping pace with the fast increase in rents.
