From: Heather Polley
To: CITYCOUNCIL-List
Subject: [EXTERNAL] ADU sales in Alameda
Date: Friday, September 11, 2026 7:02:28 PM
Dear Alameda Council Members,
As a renter I am writing with concern about the proposal to allow individual sales of ADUs in Alameda.
Here are my two main concerns that I hope you will address before your vote.
First, I am very concerned that this is another opportunity for corporate interests to control the Alameda housing market. A recent study widely shared (Independent Voter News, Orange County Register) in October 2025 reported that 19% of California single-family homes are now owned and controlled by private equity, hedge funds, and other large investors. These investors compete directly with Alameda families for housing and drive up prices for both housing sales and rentals. This is a leading cause of the housing affordability crisis.
If ADUs will be sold on the housing market, what will be done to prevent capture of the ADU market by corporations in Alameda? What will be done to keep ADUs affordable for real families? Second, taking any amount of rental housing off the market at this time matters, even if it is only 3% of the rental market.
Finding an ADU for rent in Alameda from a “mom and pop” made the difference for my family between staying where we love and being forced to move all the way to Monterey (we were forced to look that far and wide). We searched for several months to find a rental in Alameda that we could afford. Finding an affordable ADU rental felt like a miracle to us.
With this new proposal, we and many other tenants would be in danger of losing our rental situation.
While I appreciate that the Planning Board considered Right of Refusal for tenants, you must know that during this time of crisis, many renters cannot afford to buy any housing, even at condo prices.
Zillow helpfully told me that our current rental would be worth $700,000-800,000 if it were sold separately from the larger house on the same property. That is almost as much as a small house in Alameda that is not an ADU. With high mortgage interest rates, an insurance crisis, and property taxes that keep going up, most renters will not be able to take advantage of the Right of Refusal, because the monthly costs would be vastly more than rent for the same property. Tiny houses do not equate to tiny mortgages.
I fear that this will result in evictions and displacements. I am concerned that these sales will give landlords another way to evict tenants without repercussions.
I urge the Council to oppose the proposal to allow individual sales of ADUs. There aren’t enough affordable rentals to go around, and these new rules will result in even fewer options for Alameda families who cannot afford to buy.
Sincerely,
Heather Polley
From:
To:
Subject:
Date:
KR
City Clerk
[EXTERNAL] Air bnb comment
Sunday, September 6, 2026 5:44:40 PM
Hello,
I have lived on alameda for 4 years and just started a family here. We built an ADU on our property mostly for family to come and stay since they live far away and there are not many places at all for family to stay when they visit.
I am concerned and confused about the limits
of use of ADUs for potential air bnb as currently listed in the new ordinance.
What is the difference if I live in my main house and rent my ADU, or live in my ADU and rent the main house? I think as long as the property owner lives on the property, like the ordinances in Oakland and Berkeley, it should suffice to allow for Airbnb usage of either structure on the property.
I agree some limitations should be set in Alameda, but completely removing the use of in law units or ADUs does not make any sense to me, since many folks in alameda have invested in them, which increases property value and tax for the city.
Thank you,
KR