Glendale staff outline tenant-protection rules and warn emergency-housing vouchers may end without HUD funds

Glendale housing staff laid out the city’s rental-rights program and its relocation-assistance rules at a public summit, and warned that Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) funding provided through HUD has come up short and could force changes to assistance for participating households.

"There are five major provisions for the rental-rights program," said Sipan Zadorian, housing supervisor for the City of Glendale. He described just-cause eviction protections, a right-to-lease requirement, rent-based termination rules, intentional-disrepair remedies and rent reductions when services are removed. Zadorian said the city’s program is intended to reduce displacement and stabilize housing.

Under the local rules, landlords cannot evict tenants without an enumerated reason. Zadorian outlined two categories of just-cause evictions — at-fault (nonpayment, lease breach, nuisance, illegal activity, unauthorized subtenancy, denial of access, prohibited smoking) and no-fault (major demolition or rehabilitation, owner or family move-in, permanent removal from market, compliance with government order or contractual obligations). For certain no-fault evictions, tenants are eligible for relocation assistance.

Zadorian gave the relocation formula used by the city: three times the greater of the tenant’s rent or the fair-market rent, plus $2,000. Using his example, a one‑bedroom with an applicable fair‑market rent base of $2,085 produces a relocation payment of $8,255; "qualified" tenants receive double that amount. City staff defined a qualified tenant as a low‑income household that is either age 70 or older, disabled, a household with a school‑enrolled child at the time of eviction, or otherwise very low income.

The ordinance also includes a "rent-based termination" trigger: increases over 7% can require relocation assistance (if a tenant requests it within required notice windows — 14 days for month‑to‑month tenancies, 30 days for one‑year leases). Zadorian explained that landlords may "bank" unused rent increases for up to three years and apply them later, and that the relocation calculation in this case uses three times the proposed rent (doubled for qualified tenants).

Zadorian noted specific exemptions: single‑family homes, condominiums, townhomes, properties with two or fewer units, hotels/short‑term rentals and government‑owned properties and established affordable units are exempt from the program generally; parcels with four or fewer dwelling units do not get relocation payments for major rehabilitation.

City staff also addressed how the local ordinance interacts with state law. "This was passed in 2019 as the Tenant Protection Act," Zadorian said, referring to AB 1482, which caps rent increases statewide; this year the regional cap is 8%. "Landlords cannot exceed the state's cap even if local triggers differ," he said.

Arsenay Sayedan, deputy director for community development and homeless services, said the city was awarded about 225 Emergency Housing Vouchers but that HUD funding shortfalls and adjustments to fair‑market‑rent calculations have left the program underfunded. Sayedan said about 188 households currently receive EHV assistance in Glendale and that more than 70 seniors are enrolled and could be affected if funding cannot be replaced. "We are working on bridge options and will bring a report to city council in April," she said.

City staff urged participants to review the resource packets and the city website for full ordinance text, contact information and translated materials. They also emphasized that relocation payments are paid by landlords under the ordinance and that notices tied to program changes will come after HUD provides any allocation direction.

Next steps: staff will present a report to Glendale’s city council in April with options for addressing the EHV funding gap and any council‑directed measures. Until then, staff urged participants to contact the housing office for case‑specific guidance and said informational materials will remain available at the housing table and online.