APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY
___________________________
CITY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL
RESOLUTION NO. ______________ C.M.S.
INTRODUCED BY COUNCILMEMBER CARROLL FIFE
RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY BILL 1157 (KALRA), “THE AFFORDABLE RENT ACT ,” WHICH WOULD
AMEND THE TENANT PROTECTION ACT OF 2019, AS AMENDED BY
SB 567, TO IMPROVE RENTAL HOUSING AFFORDABILITY BY
EXPANDING THE TENANT PROTECTION ACT TO MOST RENTERS IN
CALIFORNIA, LOWERING T HE RENT CAP, AND MAK ING THESE
PROTECTIONS PERMANENT
WHEREAS, the State of California and the City of Oakland continue to experience a shortage of decent, safe, affordable, and sanitary housing; and WHEREAS, approximately 60% of Oakland residents are renters and a majority are rent burdened because the cost of living has gone up exponentially, while wages have stagnated, forcing people to dedicate a large portion (over 30%) of their income towards housing costs — nearly a thi rd of Californians are severely rent -burdened, which means that rent eats more than half of their income, leaving them one financial crisis away from homelessness 1; and
WHEREAS, a growing number of Oakland residents are facing difficulties meeting their housing needs due to economic insecurity, unemployment, and displacement; and
WHEREAS, the median rent in Oakland has increased by approximately 50% over the last two decades and with Black Oakland residents being disproportionately rent burdened, there has been a significant decline in Oakland’s Black population—census data shows that between 2000 to 2018, the Black population in Oakland declined by over one-third;2 and WHEREAS, according to research from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a $100 increase in median rent is associated with a 9% increase in homelessness. In 2024, for every 100 people who exited homelessness, 118 more entered into homelessness, revealing how our current system is failing to address the root causes of this emergency—t here is no way to
1 https://www.housinginitiative.org/uploads/1/3/2/9/132946414/hip_oakland_market_study_9-29- 20_small.pdf
2 Policy Report: Oakland’s Targeted Homelessness Prevention Pilot (2025)
2 effectively address this crisis without addressing the growing pipeline of people being pushed into homelessness each year by high housing costs; and
WHEREAS, according to the 2023 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress prepared by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, half of America's unsheltered homeless population lives in California, and the 2024 Point in Time Count found that at least 5,490 people in Oakland are without permanent shelter; and WHEREAS, permanent, common sense protections against unfair evictions are needed to protect long-time and low -income residents from evictions that are filed for the sole purpose of circumventing rent caps by imposing artificially high rents on new tenants; and WHEREAS, the City Council has taken numerous actions to protect tenants from displacement, including approving an Ordinance amending Chapter 8.22 of the Oakland Municipal Code (Residential Rent Adjustments and Evictions) to make the Annual Permissible Rent Increase for Covered Units 60% of the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index or 3%, whichever is lower, pursuant to Ordinance 13693 C.M.S.; and
WHEREAS, Council has also approved grant s to fund tenant legal services and flexible financial assistance for eviction prevention to eligible tenants of rental housing in Oakland, most recently through Resolution 90654 C.M.S.; and
WHEREAS, while Oakland has taken critical steps to protect renters through local rent and eviction control measures , many properties are exempt from such measures, and tenants therefore rely solely on protections afforded by state law. The proposed expansion of the Tenant Protection Act would benefit Oakland tenants who are currently exempt from local ordinances as well as insufficiently protected tenants across California; and WHEREAS, many tenants renting single-family homes are not covered by existing state rent and eviction protections. Other tenants are covered but vulnerable to rent increases that outpace inflation under the law. Residents have been unfairly evicted so that landlords can take advantage of the current local housing shortage and raise rents. Tenants are provi ded little information regarding their rights in the case of eviction and how to get help if they believe their rights have been violated; and
WHEREAS, Assembly Bill 1157, the Affordable Rent Act, will protect tenants across the state by lowering the rent cap, expanding the Tenant Protection Act to more renters in California, and removing the sunset to help stabilize skyrocketing rent increases for all California renters by lowering the amount rent can increase annually to Consumer Price Index (CPI) +2% or a maximum cap of 5%, expanding the “just cause” a nd “rent cap” to more rental homes (not including new development within the last 15 years), and removing the Act’s sunset date; now, therefore, be it
3 RESOLVED: That the City of Oakland hereby supports and endorses Assembly Bill 1157 and a directs the City Administrator to transmit this resolution to Oakland’s representatives in the State Legislature and to Governor Gavin Newsom to express our strong support of its enactment into law.
IN COUNCIL, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA,
PA
SSED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:
AYE
S - BROWN, FIFE, HOUSTON, KAPLAN, RAMACHANDRAN, UNGER, AND
PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE GALLO
NOES –
ABSENT – COUNCIL PRESIDENT JENKINS (serving as Mayor pursuant to Charter Section 303) ABSTENTION –
A
TTEST:
ASHA REED
City Clerk and Clerk of the Council of the
City of Oakland, California
3414975 / BS