Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing Registry topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council approves contract with Ptolemy to build rent registry; first-year cost capped at $150,000
Summary
Council approved a three-year contract not to exceed $150,000 with Ptolemy to replace the city’s antiquated rent registry, scale registration by per-unit costs, migrate historical RSO data, and aim to launch a full registry by Jan. 1, 2026.
The council voted to approve a contract with vendor Ptolemy to build a new residential rental property registry. Community and Economic Development Director Amy Chen said staff budgeted $150,000 for the initial year and that Ptolemy agreed to remove a one-time setup fee so the contract would fit within the approved budget.
Chen explained the system uses two modules (Slate and Building Blocks) to identify units that must register and to provide mapping and analytics for policy development; she said the city estimated up to about 7,000 residential units as an upper bound but that the contract is "not to exceed" $150,000 and will scale based on the actual number of registrations. Chen said the implementation approach phases the rollout: rent-stabilized units first, testing and outreach in the first quarter of 2025, and a citywide launch with all registrations due by 01/01/2026. Council members pressed staff on unit-count assumptions, fee collection, and migration of historic data from the existing database; Chen said Ptolemy can collect registry fees and penalties and staff will prioritize migrating legacy data from the Redwood City system.
The motion to adopt the resolution for the rent registry passed by voice vote. Council directed staff to provide updates during the first year of implementation and stressed outreach to tenants and landlords to ensure broad registration and compliance.
