Oxnard housing staff propose tenant anti-harassment ordinance, request two enforcement positions

Alba Marshall, rent stabilization and just cause eviction program supervisor for the Oxnard housing department, recommended that the City Council introduce a tenant anti-harassment ordinance and authorize two positions to enforce it. Marshall made the presentation during a council meeting staff report, saying the measure responds to an increase in reported landlord tactics aimed at forcing tenants to vacate rent‑stabilized units.

The proposed ordinance would prohibit specific landlord acts and omissions identified as harassment, allow a tenant, the city or an organization to pursue civil damages and attorney fees, and make the most serious violations misdemeanors subject to criminal prosecution. Marshall said staff engaged Stephen Lewis, Esquire, a private attorney with nearly 30 years of experience drafting rent‑stabilization and tenant‑protection ordinances, to prepare the draft and to incorporate best practices from other California cities while avoiding conflicts with constitutional protections and published appellate opinions.

Why it matters: Marshall told the council that reported landlord tactics in Oxnard include reducing housing services, issuing eviction notices on false grounds,…