On the long list of items on Concord City Council’s agenda, there is one that has riled residents and moved them to sit at the city’s Civic Center for hours: a proposed ordinance that would redefine rent stabilization and just cause eviction laws for tenants across the city. On Jan. 9, city council will discuss—and possibly vote on—the controversial ordinance, which has been more than seven years in the making, and is part of an ongoing effort between tenant activists, the Concord Housing Committee, and city council members.
This ordinance would put a new cap on rent increases for some housing and broaden just cause eviction protections for tenants, such as ensuring that tenants receive proper relocation assistance if evicted, and making it so that if the landlord needs to do substantial renovations to the unit, they must pay the tenant a rate for lodging and meals while displaced.
Between 2021 and 2022 (the most recent available data), rents have increased in Concord by 9 percent, according to the City of Concord’s Residential Rent Registry Report. Black and Latinx people make up more than 50 percent of renter-occupied units in Concord and experience some of the highest overcrowding rates, according to Sophia Huckabay, the Concord Housing Manager who is leading the writing of the ordinance. Fifty-four percent of these households are spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent, according to the Association of Bay Area Governments/Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
In mid-December, city council was meant to vote on the ordinance, but the members were met with overwhelming backlash from tenants and landlords. Both groups were asking for the current ordinance to be rewritten—tenants felt it did not go far enough to protect renters, and landlords said the current draft made it impossible for them to see a fair return on their investment. Because of the absence of one city council member, Laura Hoffmeister, they ultimately decided to postpone the vote until Jan. 9.
Blanca Colín, a tenant activist with Rising Juntos, was a Concord resident for 18 years, ever since she moved to the United States from Mexico. Collins says she has had her fair share of struggles with housing, so much so that she and her family are no longer able to live in Concord.
We are asking for nothing more than what is the human right to have decent, affordable, and safe housing for our families.
Blanca Collins, Concord tenant activist
“I was hoping that we could return to live in the city of Concord. But I’m seeing that Concord City Council does not want to give the protections that we tenants deserve,” Colín says. “We are asking for nothing more than what is the human right to have decent, affordable, and safe housing for our families,” says Collins.
What would the ordinance do?
For those units subject to rent stabilization regulations—housing built before 1995—annual rent increases would be limited to either 60 percent of the consumer price index (a measurement of price changes experienced by consumers over time), or three percent, whichever is lower. There are also a large number of homes that would be exempt from the rent stabilization ordinance, including single family homes and condominiums, accessory dwelling units (such as in-law suites or units that are connected and have their own bathroom, living space, and kitchen), and owner-occupied homes with rented rooms and shared kitchens.
Just cause protections would apply more broadly and cover all rental properties, regardless of when built, including rented single-family homes or condominiums and multifamily complexes. Just cause protections would be effective the day a tenant moves into a rental unit and require property owners to pay relocation assistance for tenants who are temporarily or permanently displaced due to no-fault just cause reasons, according to Huckabay. Single family homes will still be included in the just cause eviction ordinance, but accessory dwelling units are not included.
The new policies would apply retroactively to January 12, 2023.
Why do tenant rights activists oppose this ordinance?
Rhea Elina Laughlin, the executive director at Rising Juntos, one of the organizations heading the tenant community organizing group that has been facilitating the conversation around tenant rights in Concord, opposes the new ordinance. Along with dozens of other tenant activists, Laughlin shared multiple concerns about the current draft of the rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinance.
Tenant rights advocates say there are several different loopholes in the ordinance that would allow landlords to bypass both the changes to rent control and the just cause eviction laws. Among them, the ordinance states that property owners have the right to a fair return on their investment. If the amount they make in a year from their property is not as much as they made the year before, landlords can petition for a rent increase larger than the cap set by the ordinance in order to be able to receive a fair return on their investment.
Gabby Rivas is a Latina tenant activist from Concord who spoke during the public comment section of the Dec. 12 city council meeting. She said the definition of fair return on investment is much too broad and doesn’t truly protect tenants. “It would allow landlords to exceed the cap every year if they don’t make the same profit as the previous year. That doesn’t make sense and doesn’t protect tenants. The ordinance should provide a reasonable standard for fair return, as used in other cities. Families need a rent control policy that truly protects them,” Rivas said.
Why are landlords opposed?
Several landlords also had grievances with the ordinance, particularly to rent stabilization caps. Many told the city council that a limit of three percent in rent is much too low for landlords to possibly receive fair returns on their investments, especially with the rising costs that come with renting out a home. Joe Rafael has been a landlord in Concord for several years and spoke at the Dec. 12 city council meeting during the public comment period. He said he noticed that both the landlords and the tenant advocates seem to have some common agreements when it comes to the ordinance.
“It’s very difficult to think that we can operate the properties we do with a three percent increase or the 60 percent [consumer price index],” he said before the city council. “Unless you can regulate PG&E, and the water district, or the sewer district to limit their increases to a like amount, I don’t know how we can continue to reinvest in the properties we have.
“The costs we have keep going up,” Rafael added.
This story was updated on January 30th to correct the spelling of Blanca Colín’s last name.