McMilIan, Acquanette (Netta)
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Monday, January 26, 2026 3:32 PM
PublicComment-AutoResponse
Council meeting agenda item 10
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Mayor Gordo, Vice Mayor Rivas, and members of the Council Tonight you are (finally) reviewing the report from the Pasadena Rental Housing Board and the Rent Stabilization Department for the fiscal year that ended over six months ago. The Rent Board has spent several meetings talking about how to present the best possible "story", which may be why the 55 glossy pages include only a single page about their multimillion dollar expenditure.
I urge you to ask why it takes so long to report to you, and why the authors have chosen to show you so many photographs of smiling staff members instead of explaining where the money went.
Simon Gibbons
Pasadena resident and housing provider
1 1/26/2026
Item 10
McMillan, Acquanette (Netta)
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Monday, January 26, 2026 3:37 PM
cityclerk; PublicComment-AutoResponse; City_Council_District_Liaisons Rivas, Jessica; Gordo, Victor; Madison, Steve; Jones, Justin; Hampton, Tyron; Masuda, Gene; Lyon, Jason; Cole, Rick
Agenda Item 10
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Dear Pasadena City Council Members;
The RSD Annual Report Lists and graphs lots of busy work at the RSD and the Rent Control Board. But very little in results actually helping tenants, for the $6 million they are spending.
Results:
• Unlawful Detainers are up year over year.
• Over $6.7 million taken from Pasadena housing providers this year. • Is the "25 evictions prevented" any different from what would have happened in court without the $6.7 million in RSD fees? We do not know. (p28)
• Including "76 rent increases rescinded," 101 tenants have been helped for over $6.7 million. This represents a cost of $65.000 per tenant helped (in the best case). (p28) Making tenants more vulnerable to ICE capture, by collecting Rent Increase Notices and 3-Day Notices with Tenant Names, even though these are not necessary to enforce rent control. •
Busy Work:
• Publicizing and explaining new requirements.
• Hiring extra data entry staff to create a Rental Registry which is not even necessary to enforce rent control.
• Staff hours teaching housing providers how to meet all the requirements the Rent Control Board and RSD created.
• Staff hours cataloging Rent Increase Notices when rent increases are already reported by landlords, and tenants have received information on how to report excessive increases.
Flaws in RSD work:
• p49 claims units are 96% occupied, or a 4% vacancy rate • but p51 lists vacancy/district from 5.23% to 25.65%. This can not possibly add up to a 4% vacancy rate.
Thus the report uses fabricated, mistaken, or magical arithmetic. • RSD requiring landlords to upload Rent Increase Notices with tenant names when the Rent Control Board did not authorize this. It could endanger tenants. • Claims that tenants have been saved Lots of money because rent increases have been limited, are exaggerated by about 100%. If landlords raised rents 7% for three years in a row, few would have any tenants Left.
1 1/26/2026
Item 10
Tenants would be better off if the RSD were shut down and a fraction of the fees imposed on landlords were used to create a fund for tenants who experience hardship.
Measure H, and it's implementation need to be carefully considered by City Council, and modified.
Thank you for your attention to these problems.
Alan Bair
2