San Leandro staff present draft rent-stabilization ordinance, outline costs and exemptions

Director Liao, a city staff member, presented the draft Rent Stabilization Ordinance to the San Leandro City Council on Monday, Oct. 13, asking the council for guidance on three policy choices including whether to keep a 5% annual rent-cap and whether to add a consumer price index (CPI) adjustment.

The presentation matters because staff estimates the draft ordinance would apply to more than 7,600 rental units in San Leandro and would create a new permitting, petition and hearing process that staff projects would cost the city several hundred thousand dollars in its first year to administer.

Liao said the city ran a 60-day public comment period from July 17 to Sept. 17, including two communitywide meetings (one online, one in person) and targeted stakeholder meetings with landlords and tenants, and that outreach materials were translated into Spanish and Cantonese. Liao said common themes from housing providers included concerns that the ordinance was moving too quickly, overlap with existing state and local tenant protections and rising operating costs; tenant commenters generally said the proposed 5% cap was too high and urged more protections for seniors, low-income renters and people with disabilities.

The draft ordinance as presented would: apply to an estimated 7,600+ units; set an initial annual rent-cap at 5% with one increase per year; allow three types of administrative petitions (capital improvement pass-throughs, fair-return petitions by owners, and tenant petitions for decreases in housing services); require unit…