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Albany council orders anti-harassment and just-cause ordinance drafts after heated tenant-protection debate
Summary
After months of Housing Advisory Commission work and extensive public comment, the council asked staff to draft an anti-harassment ordinance and a just-cause eviction ordinance (expanding covered housing types, requiring eviction filing with the city, and conditioning eviction filings on business license). A separate proposal for a rental registry plus inspections failed; the council asked staff to return with inspection program models.
Albany City Council on March 2 directed staff to draft local tenant-protection ordinances after an extended public discussion that included tenants, landlords, housing advocates and the Housing Advisory Commission.
Planning manager Leslie Mendez and consultant Chris Hess summarized the legal framework the city faces: the state Tenant Protection Act (AB 1482, amended by SB 567), the Costa-Hawkins Act (which limits local rent-stabilization reach for some units) and the Ellis Act (which allows landlords to exit the rental market in defined circumstances). Hess said local options fall into three buckets: anti-discrimination/harassment protections, just-cause eviction coverage, and local rent-stabilization.
Staff recommended against building a local rent-stabilization program now because a locally administered rent-control regime generally requires dedicated staff (the report…
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