Hayward City Council approves relocation assistance for tenants in no-fault evictions and temporary displacements

HAYWARD, Calif., July 15, 2020—The Hayward City Council voted Tuesday to revise the City’s residential rent-stabilization ordinance to require payment of relocation assistance to tenants in instances of no-fault evictions and temporary displacements due to unit repairs or upgrades.

The revisions are part of a set of adjustments and clarifications to the City’s 2019 Residential Rent Stabilization and Tenant Protection Ordinance brought before the Council by the City’s Housing Division for preliminary approval on Tuesday.

If the revisions are given final Council approval on July 21, tenants being evicted out of no fault of their own for reasons allowable under the rent-stabilization ordinance will be entitled to the equivalent of one-month’s rent to assist with relocation to a new home.

In cases of temporary displacement to allow for unit repairs related to code compliance, major remodels or due to substantial damage not of a natural cause, such as an earthquake, tenants will be entitled to rent differential payments and/or per-diem payments to cover hotel, pet boarding and other related expenses.  Rent differential payments are intended to bridge the difference between rent paid for the home being temporarily vacated and the one being temporarily occupied to allow for the unit repairs or upgrades.

In voting to approve revisions to the City rent-stabilization ordinance pertaining to relocation assistance, the Council also directed the Housing Division to bring to the Council Homelessness-Housing Task Force for future consideration potential revisions to reduce allowable annual rent increases and their calculation under the ordinance.

The change in the ordinance to provide for tenant relocation assistance in no-fault evictions would bring the City’s ordinance in alignment with state legislation, Assembly Bill 1482, known as the Tenant Protection Act, which took effect Jan. 1, 2020.

For more information the City’s Residential Rent Stabilization and Tenant Protection Ordinance, contact the Hayward Housing Division at (510) 583-4454 for assistance in English and (510) 583-5547 in Spanish or go online to the Housing Division page on the City’s website.