LAX Leader

On Tuesday, February 14th at 6:00 p.m., the Ojai City Council will consider rent stabilization and Just Cause restrictions with mandatory relocation fees paid by rental housing providers for “No Fault” evictions.  Please call into the meeting via Zoom, raise your hand and voice your strong opposition to the City taking any further steps on either rent stabilization or Just Cause restrictions.  

The Staff report provides no data on why the City needs rent stabilization and Just Cause ordinances, since these protections already exist statewide thanks to state law under The California Tenant Protection Act of 2019, Assembly Bill 1482 (AB1482). 

AB1482 took effect on January 1, 2020, but was not fully implemented until July 1, 2021, due to COVID-19 emergency renter protections. Many renters, rental housing providers and local officials are still confused and unfamiliar with the state law.  It would make far more sense for the Ojai City Council to invest the time and money to educate all residents on current state law before attempting to create a new law that may not be needed.

The City is looking at Bell Gardens and Oxnard which recently passed similar ordinances without regard to the severely damaging impacts they would have on multifamily and Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) rental housing availability.  A rent increase cap lower than the one that already existing under state law will only force more mom-and-pop rental housing owners out of business with their properties sold to large corporations that only care about their bottom line or to developers to build new higher return properties such as luxury apartments, condominiums or commercial buildings.  Local rent stabilization will cause Ojai to lose its existing rental housing and destroy any interest in building more rental housing.

As was evidenced by the recent announcement that the Skid Row Housing Trust is bankrupt and will have to sell all their properties, renters that pay lower than full market-rate rent create a financial strain that causes building deterioration and demise.  Creating limitations on rent increases only makes conditions far more difficult for all existing renters and threatens the loss of entire buildings over time.

Relocation fees are an undue shifting of the burden from the City to private small business to provide a safety net for all residents. An increase in relocation fees beyond those that exist under AB1482 would be unfair and unjust to property owners.  Relocation fees are a form of welfare payment and should not be forced upon individual small business owners. It is the government’s responsibility to provide public welfare using public funds for those who need it.

If the City of Ojai believes that financial assistance is needed by renters to maintain their market-rate rental housing, then the City should be researching how to develop a City funded rental voucher program. These “shallow” rental housing vouchers are already being offered by the Veterans Administration and the Salvation Army.  The City could easily design its own program targeted at low-income individuals and families, seniors, disabled persons and other populations with varying amounts of support.

Alternatively, if the City merely wants to help those facing the possibility of relocation due to sudden job loss, then it can create a new City time-limited subsidy to fill the gap in paying rent (3-to-6 months) for the renter until they are able to find new employment.  By so doing, renters and rental housing providers alike will be able to avoid the extremely stressful process of an eviction.  If the City has money to consider a new ordinance for rent stabilization, then those funds would be far better spent in creating a new subsidy program to avoid evictions.

If you cannot call into the meeting via Zoom, please email the full City Council telling them to STOP any further steps towards rent stabilization or Just Cause with relocation fees.  AB1482 already exists and Ojai does not need its own regulations.

ADDITIONAL MEETING INFORMATION

How to view to the Meeting Live Stream:

This meeting will be available for viewing on the City's website at ojaicity.org/Granicus/, on YouTube at youtube.com/user/ojaicity/featured, or on Spectrum Channel 10.To Provide a Public Comment During the Meeting and Via ZoomTo provide public comment during the meeting on this important agenda item – Agenda Item 3, you may do so in person or comment live via telewebinar software. No pre-registration is required for public comment via telewebinar. Instead, during the live meeting, telewebinar participants who wish to speak on the agenda item will be asked to use the Zoom’s software’s hand-raise function at the beginning of the item.To join the live virtual meeting via Zoom, click the following link: Ojai City Council Meeting via Zoom. To Submit Written CommentsSubmit an email to cityclerk@ojai.ca.gov no later than 5 p.m. on the day of the meeting (Please indicate the agenda item number in the subject line – Agenda Item 3).  To submit written public comments in advance of the meeting, comments must be submitted by email no later than 5:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting.

Original source can be found here.