City Council to discuss rental housing stabilization strategies

The Hayward City Council will discuss proposals for stabilizing residential rental rates during a public work session at its regular meeting on Tuesday.

Among the strategies up for discussion is a staff recommendation to amend the City Residential Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RRSO) so that in cases in which landlords seek to raise annual rent by more than five percent, tenants have the right to a mediation and potential binding arbitration process.

Staff also is recommending that the amendment apply to all rental units constructed before 1979—the maximum allowable under state law—except for single-family homes and owner-occupied duplexes, triplexes and quadraplexes.

Other related rental housing issues also will be addressed—including potential changes to eviction regulations and compensation for tenants forced to move due to no fault of their own.

The workshop is being held against a backdrop of rental rates increasing substantially higher than tenant incomes.

No legislative changes will be voted on during the work session. Any amendments to the RRSO would be brought back before the Council at a later date and first would be heard in a public meeting of a Council legislative committee.

A copy of the agenda for the Tuesday Council meeting is available here and a copy of the RRSO work session staff report is available here.