Fremont City Council Meeting: 03/07/23 07:00 PM
3300 Capitol Avenue Div/Dept: City Council
Fremont, CA 94538 Category: Council Referrals & Appointments
SCHEDULED
Sponsors:
COUNCIL STAFF REPORT (ID # 4837) DOC ID: 4837
Updated: 3/3/2023 12:35 PM by Alberto Quintanilla Page 1 COUNCILMEMBER KASSAN REFERRAL: Rental Protections
Contact Persons:
Name: Jenny Kassan
Title: Councilmember
Div/Dept: City Council
Phone: 510-284-4018
E-Mail: [email protected]
COUNCILMEMBER KASSAN REFERRAL: Rental Protections
COUNCILMEMBER KASSAN REFERRAL:
Alameda County’s Residential Eviction Moratorium is currently set to expire 60 days after the end of the local health emergency which could result in a crisis of evictions and unfair treatment of tenants and those looking for housing;
At the February 5, 2019 and April 2, 2019 City Council Meetings, City staff recommended the adoption of several amendments to the Rent Review Ordinance (RRO) “to address challenges that illustrate the limitations of the RRO,” and At that time, the City Council voted not to adopt the following staff recommendations:
1. Retaliation - The RRO states that landlord retaliation is strictly prohibited. However, the City currently does not directly enforce against retaliatory conduct. Staff recommended a review of the success of approaches that may be available to reduce tenants’ fear of retaliation and report back to the City Council.
2. Reason for Rent Increase over 5% - The RRO requires that landlords provide a reason for any rent increases above 5% but landlords often provide very minimal explanations. Staff recommended expanding the ordinance so that the landlord/responsible party must present evidence to explain the reason for a rent increase in excess of 5% during the consultation/mediation step of the rent review process; and
Staff recently have identified a third amendment that could be considered to address current challenges in the rental market - a limitation on the types of criminal background checks that landlords may conduct on potential tenants (known as a Fair Chance Ordinance). https://www.nhlp.org/wp-content/uploads/021320_NHLP_FairChance_Final.pdf This referral requests that City Council direct staff to re-visit the research and recommendations provided in 2019 and provide updated recommendations for changes to the RRO to address the potential looming crisis that could result from the end of the Alameda County residential eviction moratorium and to address limitations of the RRO.