CED Committee
October 14, 2025
AGENDA REPORT
TO: Jestin D. Johnson FROM: Emily Weinstein
City Administrator Director of Housing and
Community Development
SUBJECT: RAP Annual Report FY 2024-25 DATE: September 22, 2025
City Administrator Approval Date:
RECOMMENDATION
Staff Recommends That The City Council Receive And File The Annual Report Of The Rent Adjustment Program For Fiscal Year 2024-25.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This informational report is an annual report to the City Council regarding the City of Oakland (City) Rent Adjustment Program (RAP) as required by Oakland Municipal Code (OMC) Section
8.22.250.A. This OMC section requires that RAP provide information to the City Council on enumerated topics, which are detailed in the section at the end of this report entitled “Program Status.” This report also includes important RAP updates on topics such as improved operational structure, strategic priorities, highlights and achievements, and RAP financial reporting.
In the “Strategic Priorities” section, this report focuses on RAP’s recent efforts to: provide increased in-person support for tenants and property owners, strengthen RAP’s fiscal sustainability, and increase compliance with RAP requirements.
The last RAP Annual Report presented to the City Council covered July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2024, and was presented to the City Council in January 2025. This current report covers July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025, or fiscal year (FY) 2024-25.
BACKGROUND / LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
In 1980, the City Council passed its first rent control ordinance which established the Housing, Residential Rent Arbitration and Relocation Board (Rent Board) (Oakland No. 9980 CMS) and the Rent Adjustment Program (RAP) (OMC Section 8.22.010 et seq.). Since then, the City Council has amended the Rent Adjustment ordinance several times. The ordinance regulates rent increases in Oakland for approximately 43,000 residential dwelling units. Additionally, in Jestin Johnson (Oct 2, 2025 15:46:41 PDT)
Oct 2, 2025
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: RAP Annual Report FY 2024-25
Date: September 22, 2025 Page 2
CED Committee
October 14, 2025
2002, Oakland voters passed the Just Cause for Eviction ordinance, requiring property owners of buildings constructed more than ten years ago to prove one of the eleven just causes before they may evict a tenant (OMC Section 8.22.300 et seq.).
The RAP and Just Cause for Eviction ordinances respond to a severe housing affordability crisis. Systemic flaws in the region’s housing market and in its labor market (i.e., income inequality and low wages), and a lack of a robust social safety net drive housing insecurity, displacement, and homelessness (Carolina Reid, “On the Edge of Homelessness: The Vulnerability of Extremely Low-Income Households in the Bay Area” [Berkeley, CA: Terner Center for Housing Innovation, December 2021]). In addition to these factors, racial and ethnic discrimination creates barriers to housing for residents who are already the most negatively impacted by the affordability crisis and the regional housing and labor markets. Strong and effective regulation through the RAP and Just Cause for Eviction ordinances mitigates these complex market pressures, stabilizes rents, preserves community diversity, prevents illegal rent increases and evictions, and encourages investment in rental property in Oakland by assuring fair and adequate rents.
RAP’s mission statement is as follows:
RAP is committed to assisting both property owners and tenants to promote a stable housing market, prevent unjustified rent increases and evictions, encourage investment, and sustain a diverse community.
RAP Organizational Structure
RAP is a 30-staff team in the City’s Department of Housing & Community Development (HCD).
Currently, there are 9 vacancies; those vacancies include 3 (out of the approved 7) Hearing Officers positions. RAP is divided into four units as follows:
• The Community Engagement & Enforcement Unit provides comprehensive counseling services primarily via telephone and email, and in-person services by appointment. RAP Housing Counselors are available to answer tenant and property owner questions. The unit holds workshops for tenants and property owners and managers.
• The Hearings Unit is RAP’s quasi-judicial body. The unit holds mediations and administrative hearings and adjudicates and resolves disputes between tenants and property owners over rent increases, conditions of the property, and other issues relating to tenancies by enforcing various local rental housing ordinances and regulations.
• The Administration & Policy Unit is responsible for providing leadership and management of RAP. The unit works with elected officials, other City departments, and other key stakeholders. The unit is also responsible for office administration, staffing meetings of the Rent Board, conducting research and analysis, and producing reports.
• The Rent Registry Unit is responsible for the implementation of RAP’s rent registry program, which was launched in spring of 2023. The unit informs property owners of the Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: RAP Annual Report FY 2024-25
Date: September 22, 2025 Page 3
CED Committee
October 14, 2025
annual registration requirements and supports compliance through regular outreach and technical assistance, including targeted mailings, regular online counseling sessions and workshops, and in-person services. The unit maintains the rent registry database and provides regular reports as needed.
ANALYSIS AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES
The information that is being presented will help to continue advancing the City’s Housing, Economic, and Cultural Security Priority by informing the City Council and the public about the RAP’s strategic priorities, highlights and achievements financial reporting and program status, each discussed below.
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
RAP focused on increasing in-person services, strengthening RAP’s fiscal sustainability, and improving compliance with RAP requirements.
1. Increasing In-Person Services
RAP has implemented a return to in-person services to better support the community of property owners and tenants who seek RAP’s help. Since mid-April 2025, RAP has partnered with other colleagues in the Community Development Division of HCD to staff the Housing Resource Desk on the ground floor of 250 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza to provide housing-related information and resources to members of the public. Additionally, RAP’s Housing Counselors are available for in-person appointments on the second floor during the time the Housing Resource Desk is open (Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 am to 12 pm, and 1 pm to 3 pm).
Housing Resource Desk staff assist an average of 30 people per month with questions or resources related to housing. Additionally, community members are assisted with referrals for questions related to other City functions, such as parking, planning and building, and business tax.
2. Strengthening RAP’s Fiscal Sustainability
RAP is charged with implementation of the Rent Adjustment and Just Cause for Eviction ordinances. Since the adoption of the Rent Adjustment ordinance in 1980, RAP’s responsibilities have expanded considerably. Two of the most significant amendments to the laws and expansion of RAP’s jurisdiction were adopted in 2022: the Rent Registry ordinance, which requires RAP to collect and maintain information about nearly 100,000 covered units, and Measure V, which expanded the universe of rental units covered under the Just Cause for Eviction ordinance.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: RAP Annual Report FY 2024-25
Date: September 22, 2025 Page 4
CED Committee
October 14, 2025
Despite the increased responsibilities, the cost-recovery fee for RAP had not been increased since 2019. As a result, RAP operated at a fiscal deficit since FY 2020-21 and, at the end of FY 2023-24, the RAP Fund had a negative fund balance of nearly $1 million.
In June 2025, with unanimous support from the Rent Board and considerable support from key stakeholders in the community, the City Council approved an annual per-unit RAP fee increase from $101 to $137. The Business Tax Office will be collecting the RAP fee at the new rate beginning on January 1, 2026.
This fee increase was a critical part of RAP’s multipronged strategy to ensure it can provide the full level of services necessary to fully implement the City’s rental housing laws. In addition to the fee increase, RAP is also: collaborating with the Finance Department’s Revenue Management Bureau on improving revenue collection to fully recover costs and thereby preserving other HCD sources that are currently being used to cover RAP costs; right-sizing non-HCD costs allocated to the RAP Fund; and controlling costs to the maximum extent possible.
3. Improving Compliance with Program Requirements
In addition to improving compliance with RAP Fee payment through collaboration with the Revenue Management Bureau, which is responsible for RAP Fee collection as part of its business tax collection, RAP also prioritized other efforts to improve compliance with program requirements.
Rent Adjustment and Just Cause ordinance amendments passed by City Council on Dec 17, 2024 prohibit covered property owners from issuing a rent increase or evicting a tenant pursuant to a no-fault eviction if they are delinquent on business taxes.
Additionally, the Rent Registry Unit continued to proactively support property owners to comply with rent registration requirements, especially during the annual registration renewal period. In the January-February 2025 renewal period, RAP hosted five “Rent Registration in Oakland” workshops to provide information on requirements for owner compliance; more than 100 participants attended the workshops. During that renewal period, RAP also hosted weekly “Live Counseling” sessions to assist owners in renewing their properties’ registration and offered monthly sessions during the rest of the year. A total of 253 participants attended the counseling sessions during the year. During the renewal period, RAP also offered in-person registration assistance twice weekly at 250 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, serving approximately 353 community members – most of whom were older property owners or owners whose primary language is not English.
Through a contract with HCD to help small property owners in RAP proceedings, the East Bay Rental Housing Association (EBRHA) also assisted small property owners to drive compliance with the City’s rental housing and tax laws, including registration, RAP Fee, and business tax obligations.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: RAP Annual Report FY 2024-25
Date: September 22, 2025 Page 5
CED Committee
October 14, 2025
HIGHLIGHTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
In addition to successfully implementing the strategic priorities above, the following RAP highlights and achievements are worthy of note:
1. Community Engagement
RAP’s Community Engagement & Education Unit provided extensive support and outreach to property owners and tenants during the reporting period. Some of this unit’s key accomplishments were:
• Community Workshops: Facilitated 14 workshops for tenants and property owners.
Topics included: rent increases and recent updates to the RAP and Just Cause for Eviction ordinances. Workshops included three with Cantonese and Spanish interpretation and were attended by a total of 325 community members.
• Counseling Sessions: Provided counseling to 4,159 community members (see Tables 1 and 2 below). The top three zip codes served were: 94606, 94610, and 94607.
The top five topics discussed were: rent increases, the just cause ordinance, eviction notices, decreased housing services, and lease agreements.
Table 1. Counseling Sessions FY 2024-25.
July
2024
Aug
2024
Sep
2024
Oct
2024
Nov
2024
Dec
2024
Jan
2025
Feb
2025
Mar
2025
April
2025
May
2025
June
2025
TOTAL
Tenants 185 202 186 240 161 225 205 207 205 219 150 164 2,349 Prop
Owners
146 164 74 110 85 62 135 135 116 79 85 88 1,279
Other 0 20 54 68 67 38 53 54 61 37 51 28 531
Total
contacts
331 386 314 418 313 325 393 396 382 335 286 280 4,159
Table 2. Counseling Sessions Year-to-Year Comparison
FY 2022-23 FY 2023-24 FY 2024/-5
Tenants 1632 1386
2349
Property Owners 1442 1089 1279
Other 775 803 531
Total contacts 3,849 3,278 4,159
2. Contracts for Community-Based Legal Services
During the reporting period, RAP had in place the following representation services agreements:
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: RAP Annual Report FY 2024-25
Date: September 22, 2025 Page 6
CED Committee
October 14, 2025
Centro Legal de la Raza (Centro): On September 19, 2023, Council authorized a contract with Centro for the provision of representation services to low- and moderate-income tenants at RAP petition proceedings and Rent Board appeal proceedings in the amount of $250,000 from October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2024, renewable at the City Administrator’s option for one additional 12-month term not to exceed $250,000 from October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025.
From July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025, Centro performed the following activities:
• RAP Direct Referrals: RAP referred 73 tenant households to Centro for various RAP-related and non-RAP-related matters, as Centro was able to leverage both this contract and other sources, such as HCD-funded Oakland Housing Secure (eviction prevention legal and financial assistance). These referrals are critical in connecting Oakland’s most vulnerable tenants to legal and financial help.
• Case Assessment: Centro assessed 248 legal service requests. Centro assessed these cases for eligibility for RAP-related legal services. Centro assesses whether tenants’ dwelling units are covered by the Rent Adjustment ordinance, whether any rent increases tenants have received are valid under the ordinance, and whether tenants can pursue a RAP petition for issues including reduction in services for habitability issues, invalid rent increases, and more. In some instances, tenants were not covered by the Rent Adjustment ordinance. In others, tenants were covered, but property owners had served valid rent increase notices. In others, tenants had claims under RAP that they chose not to pursue for many reasons specific to their situations, including a desire to move or simply wanting to explore other options first. In all instances, Centro provided comprehensive advice about the tenant's rights and options under the Rent Adjustment ordinance.
• RAP Petitions: Centro closed 14 RAP petition representation cases and is currently representing tenants in 18 petition cases. Of the 14 RAP petition cases closed: 50% of tenants faced a rent increase; 36% of tenants experienced unfair or illegal behavior from a landlord, and 29% of tenants were living in a unit that required repairs necessary for health or safety.
• Demographic Data: Of the 14 RAP petition cases closed:
• 64% of tenants were Hispanic/Latinx
• 21% of tenants were Black/African American
• 79% of tenants were extremely low-income (at or below 30% area median income [AMI]) • 71% of tenants were female
East Bay Rental Housing Association (EBRHA): On June 20, 2023, Council authorized a contract with EBRHA for the provision of representation services to small property owners at RAP petition proceedings and Rent Board appeal proceedings in the amount of $150,000 from Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: RAP Annual Report FY 2024-25
Date: September 22, 2025 Page 7
CED Committee
October 14, 2025
July 1, 2023 through August 31, 2024 (Resolution No. 897901).Small property owners are defined as those who own a total of eight or fewer residential dwelling units (in Oakland and elsewhere) and who have a total household income at or below 100% AMI. The contract was extended through March 2025 although contract funding was exhausted in December 2024.
Between July 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024, EBRHA provided 56 webinars and meetings promoting the SPORS program. EBRHA also promoted the SPORS program via social media channels, email, and Short Message Service (SMS), and ad placement in newsletters and monthly magazines. EBRHA also performed the following activities under their Small Property Owner Representation Services (SPORS) program as shown in Tables 3 and 4.
Table 3. EBRHA Activities FY 2024-25
Services Provided to Qualified Applicants Number of Qualified Applicants Served
Percentage of
Services
RAP general compliance support (RAP fees,
rent registration, business tax, etc.)
28 42%
General housing and RAP petition process
education
16 24%
RAP filing, petition, hearing and mediation
direct support (readiness/preparation)
19 29%
Attorney referral assistance 3 5%
TOTAL 66 100%
Table 4. Demographic data for 66 property owners to whom EBRHA provided services
Data Point Number and Percentage
Oakland resident Oakland residents 54 (82%)
Non-Oakland residents 12 (18%)
Number of units own/operate in Oakland One 19 (29%) Two-four 35 (54%)
Five-eight 12 (18%)
Gender Male 40 (61%)
Female 21 (32%)
Unknown 5 (7%)
Ethnicity White 9 (14%)
Unknown 57 (86%)
3. Technological Improvements
1 https://oakland.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6185257&GUID=4391A8E7-E664-48BB-BB1B- A6A0377F8962&G=undefined
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: RAP Annual Report FY 2024-25
Date: September 22, 2025 Page 8
CED Committee
October 14, 2025
During the reporting period, RAP made the following technological improvements:
RAP Client Management Portal
Enhanced the portal by adding workflows to include the Housing Resource Desk, improving integration and service delivery across RAP units.
RAP Appointment Portal
Developed an online appointment scheduling portal to improve access for tenants and property owners seeking RAP services.
RAP Digitization – Hearing Decisions & Orders
Digitized on a public portal, the hearing decisions and orders to ensure transparency and compliance with Measure JJ.
RAP Petition Application Workflow Enhancements
Improved internal workflows to align with the Efficiency Ordinance, streamlining operations, and reducing delays.
Important Note on RAP Rent Registry Change
RAP will be working with the rent registry vendor to display both the “Initial Rent” and “Current Rent” fields in the public search of the website.
The rent registry’s public search function has been available since November 2024. This function allows any member of the public to search for a property by address or Assessor Parcel Number (APN) to see registration status and to see a list of units that have been registered for that property. The current unit information fields available to the public are the following:
• Address
• APN
• Number of Units
• Property Status (indicating whether or not the property’s registration has been completed)
• Unit Address and Unit Number
• Occupancy Type (i.e., tenant, owner, manager, etc.)
• Occupancy Start Date, and
• Date of Most Recent Rent Increase
Missing from the public search is data for individual units’ initial rent and current rent, which owners are required to report annually in the rent registry. The public information tool does allow users to request additional information, which is provided by RAP staff via email upon request.
The public search function has been designed in this way not due to any limitation of the Rent Adjustment ordinance, but because when the City Council was considering passage of the Rent Registry ordinance in June 2022, RAP staff stated that individual rent information would not be Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: RAP Annual Report FY 2024-25
Date: September 22, 2025 Page 9
CED Committee
October 14, 2025
displayed via the web in a public search. This statement reflected RAP’s initial belief that the design of the rent registry would allow property owners and tenants to log in to the rent registry and access their individual rent information directly using a login and password. During development, however, it became clear that although this approach was workable for property owners, it was not workable for tenants due to the difficulty in user verification.
As a result, since the launch of the rent registry, only rental property owners have been able to directly access individual rent information online as part of their accounts.
The cost of this approach is that tenants themselves cannot easily check online the rents that are reported by the owner of their rental property. They instead must request this information, placing a barrier between reported information and the person it directly affects – and who also happens to be the same person who can verify that information reported by the owner/manager is accurate. Since the launch of the online search, staff has received 502 tenant requests for unit information through the public portal. This shows that the unit information request function is not serving a significant number of tenants. It also contrasts with the practice of neighboring rent control jurisdiction Berkeley, which provides both initial rent and rent ceiling data on its publicly accessible rent registry lookup tool, and with Santa Monica, which provides rent ceiling data for individual units.
For these reasons, RAP will be working with the rent registry vendor to display both the “Initial Rent” and “Current Rent” fields in the public search of the website. This will allow any member of the public – and most critically tenants in the registered units – to see registered rent data. (Note that RAP is proposing lookup access only to initial and current rent, and would not display any information related to ownership, services, rent increase, or individual tenants.) It is anticipated that by allowing easier online access to registered rent information, RAP will also provide the additional advantage of ensuring that owners carefully and accurately report rent data.
FINANCIAL REPORTING
Table 5 provides the actual revenue and expenditures for FY 2021-22 through FY 2024-25.2
Table 5. FY 2024-25 Revenues and Expenditures
ACTUAL FY
2021-22
ACTUAL FY
2022-23
ACTUAL FY
2023-243
ACTUAL FY
2024-25
Beginning Fund
Balance 4,749,956.68 2,826,101.45
1,095,130.56
(1,047,247.61)
REVENUES
2 At the time of this report being pulled, the City’s book for FYE 6/30/2025 is still open. Final numbers for FY2024-25 may differ upon closure.
3 FY 2023-24 numbers have been updated from the pre-year-end-closure figures previously listed in the 2023-24 RAP report to the final audited numbers.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: RAP Annual Report FY 2024-25
Date: September 22, 2025 Page 10
CED Committee
October 14, 2025
Interest: Investment 10,080.07 17,824.32 (65,049.27) Other Fees: Misc (RAP
Annual Service Fee) 7,485,270.39 7,769,412.92
8,228,392.80
10,202,717.22
Delinquency Penalties (31.85) 63.70
Unrealized Gain/(Loss) (39,804.22) 31,766.28
8,140.31
778.06
Total Revenues 7,455,514.39 7,819,067.22 8,236,533.11 10,138,446.01 Total Available
Financing (Revenue +
Fund Balance) 12,205,471.07
10,645,168.67 9,331 ,663.67 9,091,198.40
EXPENDITURES
Salaries and Employee
Benefits
7,215,324.46 7,220,239.12
8,559,530.43
7,165,756.45
Office Supplies
21,455.98 34,536.88
65,000.24
21,185.68
Non-contractual Services
Expenditures (e.g.,
Phone and
Advertisement Services)
103,604.54 94,815.11
204,031.16
45,847.67
Contract Expenditures
366,857.79 412,476.40
349,230.06
446,426.46
Travel and Education
42,086.52 41,406.95
38,571.57
42,257.43
City Internal Services
(e.g., IT and Facilities)
468,158.00 492,602.00
472,463.00
871,704
Bank and Credit Card 59,331.06 36,724.67 62,279.04 67,654.48 Central Services
Overhead (CSO)
639,050.27 640,693.98
216,196.36
0 Operating Transfer
(Citywide Insurance Cost
Allocation)
463,501.00 509,378.00
292,779.00
199,128
Other Refunds (Fees
Collected from Non-
covered RAP Units) 67,165.00
118,884.42
231,238.23
Total Expenditures 9,379,369.62 9,550,038.11 10,378,911.28 9,091,198.40 Surplus/(Deficit) 2,826,101.45 1,095,130.56 (1,047,247.61) 0
FUND BALANCE
Net Gain/(Loss) (1,923,855.23) (1,730,970.89) (2,147,378.17) 1,047,247.61 Beginning Fund Balance 4,749,956.68 2,826,101.45
1,095,130.56
(1,047,247.61)
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: RAP Annual Report FY 2024-25
Date: September 22, 2025 Page 11
CED Committee
October 14, 2025
Ending Fund Balance
2,826,101.45 1,095,130.56
(1,047,247.61)
0 Rental property owners covered by RAP are charged an annual fee in conformance with the Rent Program Fee ordinance (OMC Section 8.22.500 et seq.). The rate was $68 per unit prior to FY 2019-20 and increased to $101 thereafter. As a result, RAP revenue increased from $6.92M in FY 2018-19 to $7.46M in FY 2021-22. The spike in revenue in FY 2020-21 is attributable both to the fee increase and the Business Tax Office instituting the linking of business tax and RAP fee in its revenue realization process. At the same time, Fund-wide expenditures increased from $5.64M in FY 2018-19 to $9.38M in FY 2021-22. The Fund suffered a deficit in FY 2019-20, FY 2021-22, and FY 2022-23.
Table 6 below summarizes the results of RAP’s annual fiscal activities in FY 2017-18 through FY 2024-25.
Table 6. RAP Fund Financials by Year
RAP Fund-
wide
Financials
(in millions)
FY
2017-
18 FY
2018-
19 FY
2019-
20 FY
2020-
21 FY
2021-
22 FY
2022-
23 FY
2023-
24 FY
2024-
25 Revenues 5.21 6.92 8.04 10.95 7.46 7.82 8.24 10.144 Expenditures -4.43 -5.64 -8.21 -9.22 -9.38 -9.55 -10.38 -9.09 Surplus /
(Deficit)
0.78 1.28 -0.17 1.73 -1.92 -1.73 -2.14 1.05
FYE Fund
Balance
1.9 3.18 3.02 4.75 2.83 1.1 -1.05 0
Table 7 provides the percentage of RAP revenues covering expenditures not within HCD, such as City Attorney costs.
Table 7. Percentage of RAP Revenue Covering Non-HCD Expenditures
Category FY
2017-18
FY
2018-
19 FY
2019-
20 FY
2020-
21 FY
2021-
22 FY
2022-
23 FY
2023-
24 FY
2024-
25 4 A spike in revenue collection in FY 2020-21 and FY 2024-25 can be explained by when revenue is received in the Revenue Bureau’s system, which is different from when it is recorded in Oracle which the numbers in this report are based on. Thus, it can be assumed that about $9.2M was collected in average during the FYs 2023-24 and 2024-25.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: RAP Annual Report FY 2024-25
Date: September 22, 2025 Page 12
CED Committee
October 14, 2025
Non-HCD
Expenditures - in
millions
1.66 2.06 2.86 3.37 3.64 3.57 2.59 1.29
Revenues - in millions 5.21 6.92 8.04 10.95 7.46 7.82 8.24 10.14 % of RAP Revenues
Covering Non-HCD
Expenditures
32% 30% 36% 31% 49% 46% 31% 13%
RAP’s expenses have increased in recent years because of increased mandated responsibilities. Most significantly, in 2019, City Council directed a shift for RAP from a passive enforcement model to an active enforcement model and, in 2022, City Council adopted the Rent Registry Ordinance and Oakland voters passed Measure V.
RAP has operated at a financial deficit since FY 2020-21 and at Fiscal Year End (FYE) 2023-24 the RAP Fund (2413) had a negative fund balance of nearly $1 million. To balance RAP’s budget during the FY 2024-25 midcycle budget process, HCD worked with the City Administrator’s Office and the Finance Department to reduce the non-HCD costs allocated to the RAP Fund. These costs include, for example, legal services from the City Attorney’s Office and revenue collection services from the Finance Department. While necessary as a budgetary strategy, those reductions in non-HCD costs meant reductions in, for example, RAP’s ability to efficiently and effectively manage the petition appeal process.
During the past two years, to address the RAP Fund deficit, the City has taken the following actions:
• reduced the number of non-HCD positions allocated to the RAP Fund; • reduced HCD operation and maintenance costs;
• reduced HCD staffing costs by temporarily freezing five positions; and, • Working in collaboration with the Business Tax Office to increase revenue through coordinated revenue realization efforts to collect delinquent RAP fee payments and penalties.
Also, to help address the RAP Fund deficit and to fully implement the City's rental housing laws, with the support of many stakeholders, the City Council authorized an increase of the annual per-unit RAP Fee from $101 to $137 for the FY 2025-26 on June 17, 2025. As a result, the City expects to see an increase in revenue of about $2.5M to 2.8M beginning in January 2026 when the city will start collecting the fee at this new rate.
PROGRAM STATUS
1. Rent Board Vacancies
The Rent Board is a quasi-judicial body that hears appeals of RAP Hearing Officer decisions and enacts regulations and policies to further the administration of the Just Cause for Eviction Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: RAP Annual Report FY 2024-25
Date: September 22, 2025 Page 13
CED Committee
October 14, 2025
ordinance. The Rent Board does not enact regulations and policies for the Rent Adjustment ordinance. The Rent Board is composed of seven full members and seven alternate members appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by City Council. The following Table 8 shows the composition, including vacancies, of the Rent Board at the beginning and end of FY 2022-23, and the end of FY 2023-24.
Table 8. Rent Board Members
Category Designation Rent Board Members
as of 6/30/24
Rent Board Members as of
6/30/25
Property Owner Regular Member Kara Brodfuehrer Kara Brodfuehrer Regular Member Chris Jackson Chris Jackson
Alternate Vacant Vacant
Alternate Vacant Vacant
Tenant Regular Member John DeBoer Cinthya Munoz Ramos
Regular Member DeSeana Williams Denard Ingram
Alternate Merika Goolsby Merika Goolsby
Alternate Vacant Vacant
Undesignated Regular Member Vacant Martina Cucullu Lim
Regular Member Charles Oshinuga Charles Oshinuga
Regular Member Vacant Ravahn Samati
Alternate Vacant Vacant
Alternate Vacant Vacant
2. Rent Board Meeting Cancellations
The Rent Board is scheduled to meet twice a month. The Rent Board had seven meeting cancellations in FY 2024-25, including five for lack of quorum, one for party request for continuance, and one for missing petitioner documents. Despite the meetings cancelled for lack of quorum, RAP staff and the Rent Board have managed appeals so that there has not been a backlog. In addition, RAP staff continues to diligently alert the Mayor’s Office of vacancies to ensure Rent Board seats are timely filled.
3. Statistics on the Number and Types of Petitions Filed and Outcomes In FY 2024-25, RAP received 328 petitions, an increase of 66 from the previous fiscal year.
Table 9 shows the number of petitions over time, Table 10 shows the petition grounds in FY 2024-25, and Table 11 shows the number of petitions resolved in FY 2024-25.
Table 9. Number of Petitions Filed in FY 2018- FY 2024
Fiscal Year Tenant Petitions Property Owner
Petitions
Total Petitions
Filed
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: RAP Annual Report FY 2024-25
Date: September 22, 2025 Page 14
CED Committee
October 14, 2025
2018/19 494 246 740
2019/20 490 301 791
2020/21 226 110 336
2021/22 228 79 307
2022/23 176 55 231
2023/24 184 79 262
2024/25 238 90 328*
* Note that three types of filed petitions are not captured in this total: mediation, extension of time and determination of protected status. Those three categories include 26 additional petitions handled by RAP in FY 2024-25.
Table 10. Petition Grounds in FY 2024-25
Petition Grounds Number
Tenant Allowable amount 74
Capital improvements (cost pass through) 5
Code violation 18
Contesting an exemption 16
Decreased housing services 156
Notice to tenants: failure to provide 71
Rent initiation 7
Unlawfully charged 34
Property
Owner
Additional occupant 2
Banking 23
Capital improvements (cost pass through) 38
Exemption: new construction 9
Exemption: SFH or Condo (Costa Hawkins) 0
Extension of time 12
Fair return 8
Increased housing services 5
Tenant not residing in unit as principal residence 0
Uninsured repair costs 4
Table 11. Petition Outcomes FY 2024-25
Outcome Number resolved
Administrative Decision 37
Involuntary Dismissal 24
Voluntary Dismissal 40
Settlement Agreement (via Mediation or Settlement Conference) 47 Hearing Decision Issued 64
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: RAP Annual Report FY 2024-25
Date: September 22, 2025 Page 15
CED Committee
October 14, 2025
Total 212
4. Timeliness of Petition Hearings and Appeals
For cases heard in FY 2024-25, the average time between petition filing and a case being heard was 4.5 months.
For appeals heard in FY 2024-25, the average time between an appeal being filed and the appeal being heard was 4.5 months.
5. Statistics on Numbers and Types of Eviction Notices Filed Pursuant to the Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance
The Just Cause for Eviction ordinance requires property owners to file with RAP a copy of any notice to terminate tenancy (“eviction notice”) served to a resident of a covered unit within ten days of service. Note that this notice is required to be served prior to any unlawful detainer (eviction) filing with the court – and not all notices to terminate tenancy ultimately result in an actual eviction filing. HCD does not track the full progression of the eviction process. Table 12 provides the total number of eviction notices received over time, Table 13 shows the FY 2024-25 eviction notices by zip code, and Table 14 shows 2024-25 eviction notices by stated reason.
Table 12. Total Eviction Notices Received Over Time
Fiscal Year Number of Notices Received
2018/19 6,714
2019/20 4,696
2020/21 881
2021/22 807
2022/23 719
2023/24 5,515
2024/25 5,042
Table 13. FY 2024-25 Eviction Notices By Zip Code
Zip Code Total
94601 393
94602 172
94603 299
94605 412
94606 734
94607 622
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: RAP Annual Report FY 2024-25
Date: September 22, 2025 Page 16
CED Committee
October 14, 2025
94608 158
94609 252
94610 352
94611 145
94612 1061
94618 30
94619 101
94621 311
Table 14. FY 2024-25 Eviction Notices by Stated Reason
Stated Reason for Eviction Total Percentage
Failure to Pay Rent 4539 90%
Disorderly Conduct 83 1.6%
Rental Agreement Violation 284 5.6%
Damage to Property 26 0.5%
Ellis Act 10 0.2%
Using Rental Property for Illegal Purposes 20 0.4%
Repairs to Unit 7 0.1%
Property Exempt 11 0.2%
Owner Re-Occupancy 12 0.2%
Owner or Relative Move In 24 0.5%
Denial to Access Rental Unit 12 0.2%
Illegal Unit 0 0.0%
6. Number and Type of “Covered Units”
RAP estimates that there are approximately 36,234 rental “covered units” as that term is defined by OMC section 8.22.0205. This estimate is based on a variety of data sources including the American Community Survey, Oakland Housing Authority (OHA), HCD, and calculated by using the following figures:
Total rental units: 104,144
Single-family detached and one-unit attached: (27,261)
Mobile homes and boats: (1,604)
5 “Covered Unit" means any dwelling unit, including joint living and work quarters, and all housing services located in Oakland and used or occupied in consideration of payment of rent with the exception of those units designated in Section 8.22.030 A. as exempt. "Covered Unit" includes a vehicular residential facility, as defined in Oakland Planning Code Section 17.10.700, rented or offered for rent for living or dwelling purposes, whether rent is paid for the recreational vehicle and the lot upon w hich it is located, or rent is paid for the lot alone. ”
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: RAP Annual Report FY 2024-25
Date: September 22, 2025 Page 17
CED Committee
October 14, 2025
Assisted housing (privately owned, subsidized): (10,600) Public housing (OHA-owned): (1,606)
Oak. Aff. Housing Preservation Initiatives units: (1,539) Units built 1983-2016 (non-subsidized): (12,300)
Voucher-subsidized: (13,000)
Total covered units: 36,234
Note that above numbers represent a decrease of approximately 6,000 covered units from the numbers calculated in FY 2019-20. The most significant changes in that time period were: (1) an increase in the total number of rental units from 95,994 to 104,144; and (2) an increase in the number of voucher-subsidized units from 6,437 to 13,000.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact related to this Informational Report.
PUBLIC OUTREACH / INTEREST
Extensive public outreach was carried out by RAP in the reporting period, particularly in the context of the RAP Fee increase. Through email communications, RAP informed property owner and tenant organizations such as Centro Legal de la Raza, Eviction Defense Center, the Oakland Tenants Union, and In It Together about this report.
COORDINATION
The Finance Department contributed to this report.
SUSTAINABLE OPPORTUNITIES
Economic: RAP’s important work, which is described in this informational report, involves the implementation and enforcement of rent-related ordinances that the City has adopted to stabilize rents for most of Oakland’s tenants and protect most all of Oakland’s tenants from unjust evictions.
Environmental: RAP’s work, which is described in this informational report, helps mitigate adverse environmental impacts of poor-quality rental housing through resolving petitions involving code violations and lack of maintenance, uncovering health and safety hazards in the process of its execution and, in turn, encouraging cohesion and vested interest of owners and tenants in healthy homes and neighborhoods.
Race & Equity: RAP’s work, which is described in this informational report, includes implementing and enforcing the rent-related laws that the City has adopted to preserve vibrant Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: RAP Annual Report FY 2024-25
Date: September 22, 2025 Page 18
CED Committee
October 14, 2025
and diverse neighborhoods and communities through stemming displacement and preventing homelessness, both of which disproportionately impact low-income people of color. RAP works to ensure that low- and moderate-income tenants, the majority of which are Black and other people of color in Oakland, can access safe, affordable, and healthy housing.
ACTION REQUESTED OF THE CITY COUNCIL
Staff Recommends That The City Council Receive And File The Annual Report Of The Rent Adjustment Program For Fiscal Year 2024-25.
For questions regarding this report, please contact Victor Ramirez, Rent Adjustment Program Director, at 510-238-3220, [email protected].
Respectfully submitted,
EMILY WEINSTEIN
Director, Department of Housing and
Community Development
Reviewed by:
Hugo Ramírez, Deputy Director
of Community Development, Department of
Housing and Community Development
Prepared by:
Victor Ramírez,
Program Manager, Rent Adjustment Program,
Department of Housing and Community
Development
Signature:
Email:
Emily Weinstein (Oct 2, 2025 11:05:47 PDT)
Emily Weinstein
[email protected]