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City reports early outcomes, compliance challenges for residential rental registration program
Summary
City staff updated council on the residential rental registration rollout: staff identified about 1,300 suspected rental units, began enforcement this year, and reported particular challenges with technical support and owner questions; roughly 370 units were reported as subject to rent-stabilization rules (about 79% compliance).
City staff provided an update on the residential rental registration program that the council adopted in February 2024, including outreach efforts, compliance numbers and operational challenges.
Administrative analyst Irma Acosta and housing programs manager Mike Noche told the council staff had identified roughly 1,300 suspected rental units within city limits after cross-checking city records and third-party data. Staff said targeted outreach and a no-fee registration window in June–July 2024 produced a large volume of technical and scope questions from landlords and tenants. After the free-registration window, the city began charging a $75 per-unit fee and launched enforcement steps this year, including issuance of citation warnings for noncompliant property owners and a move into code-enforcement procedures.
Staff reported approximately 370 units that meet the city’s rent-stabilization ordinance criteria (two-or-more-unit properties built before 1995) and said those units show roughly 79% compliance with registration. Staff also described specific implementation challenges: (1) clarifying how owner-occupied properties with family members living in a unit apply under the ordinance; (2) responding to a high volume of technical-support requests to the registration portal; and (3) the fact that affordable housing providers flagged the per-unit fee as difficult for 100% affordable projects to absorb.
Councilmembers asked for more fiscal detail and said the rental registry and the rent-stabilization ordinance should be evaluated together during upcoming budget discussions. Several council members suggested staff return with clearer cost and staffing information and recommended the city evaluate whether the program’s costs are justified for Half Moon Bay’s scale. No changes were approved at the meeting; council asked staff to continue enforcement and further analyze program impacts for a future report.
Why it matters: The registration program provides the city with a clearer inventory of rental housing locations and supports enforcement of tenant-protection ordinances, but it has created significant administrative workload and raised concerns among some small landlords and 100%-affordable housing operators about fees and compliance burdens.
What’s next: Staff will continue compliance outreach and enforcement, refine registration procedures, evaluate fee impacts on affordable-housing providers and return to council with additional financial and operational detail during the budget process.
