Albany holds study session on tenant protections; staff to return in January with analysis

The City of Albany on Monday held a study session and public-comment forum on possible local tenant-protection measures, with staff saying they will compile public input, data and peer-jurisdiction research and return to the council in January with an analysis report.

Planning Manager Leslie Mendez opened the session, saying the discussion implements Housing Element Program 5d and “is specifically to provide the public additional opportunity to express their thoughts and ideas on the value of potential local provisions related to tenant protection policies, specifically anti harassment and nondiscrimination, just cause for eviction, and rent stabilization.” She told the council that staff would present what they heard alongside data and peer research so the council could give direction on ordinance development, programs or enforcement strategies.

The public-comment period ran more than an hour and featured repeated disagreement about the likely local effects of rent-stabilization or expanded just-cause rules. Several property owners and housing-provider representatives warned that a local rent-stabilization program could make small, long-time “mom and pop” landlords sell or take units off the market and would create administrative costs the city may not be able to sustain. Chris Tipton of the East Bay Rental Housing Association warned the council that a recent survey of owners showed many were considering selling, and he said, “If you make it difficult and make it so you can’t enforce your lease because no matter what they do, you can’t get them out, what do you expect owners to do if someone’s not paying their rent?” (speaker attribution per the public record.)

Landlords and housing providers repeatedly pointed to rising operating costs — insurance, utilities, taxes and one-time capital expenses — as constraints on their ability to absorb lower rent increases. One speaker described an insurance premium increase that added roughly $70 per month per tenant, which she said exceeded the state formula increase in a given year.

Other residents and tenant advocates urged stronger local protections to prevent displacement, citing eviction as a primary pathway to homelessness. “Anything we can do to prevent that happening to our neighbors and our community members, we must do,” said Katie Hill McClanahan, who identified herself as a homeowner and expressed support for just-cause eviction and rent stabilization to protect families that are renters in Albany.

Councillors asked technical questions about scope and legal limits. Vice Mayor McQuay and staff clarified that Costa-Hawkins (the state law limiting local rent-control application to older buildings and barring control on most new construction) limits what a city may do on rent stabilization, but local ordinances can expand just-cause eviction protections and nondiscrimination categories beyond state minimums. Council members also pressed staff for more and better local data, including counts of units subject to local rules (noting that UC Village units are outside local authority) and the fiscal and staffing costs of running a rent-regulation program.

Leslie Mendez told the council staff will compile the public comments and the Housing Advisory Commission’s input, combine those with data and peer-jurisdiction research, and return in early January with an analysis report and proposed next steps.

No ordinance or regulation was adopted at the meeting; the session served to gather public input and to direct staff to prepare the January analysis report.