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Board asks staff to return Oct. 22 with revised tenant-protections drafts after broad public testimony
Summary
After extended stakeholder sessions and public testimony on just-cause evictions and a mediation/dispute-resolution program, the board directed staff to return as a set matter on Oct. 22 with mandatory mediation language and a modified just-cause proposal that generally excludes very small single-family owners.
Following lengthy stakeholder meetings and more than two hours of public testimony, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors directed county staff to return on Oct. 22 with revised drafts of two tenant-protection ordinances: a dispute-resolution (mediation) ordinance and a just-cause eviction ordinance. The direction included specific drafting guidance discussed on the record.
Deputy Director Jennifer Pierce summarized the ad-hoc committee discussions and said stakeholders had reached agreement on some items but remained divided on notice windows, effective dates and relocation assistance. “The ad hoc committee met 3 times, twice in May and once in July, with structured meetings focusing on areas of disagreement,” Pierce said in her presentation of the mediation proposal.
After hearing tenants, housing providers and community groups, the board gave staff direction to draft a mandatory dispute-resolution ordinance (replacing voluntary/mediation-first language with a mandatory mediation requirement), to set a 45‑day notice period for untenable conditions and a 14‑day window for disputes arising from newly learned facts, and to prepare a just-cause draft that would exclude single-family landlords with five or fewer units while mirroring state law protections for other unit types. The board also asked staff to consider a two-month relocation payment for no-fault evictions (an increase from the state baseline of one month) and to return with implementation costs and enforcement options, including a possible role for County Counsel.
