Ordinance Amending Chapter 8.22 Of The Oakland Municipal Code (Residential Rent Adjustments And Evictions) To (1) Limit The Maximum Rent Increase In Any One Year To Conform To State Law; (2) Make Failure To Pay Required Relocation Benefits An Affirmative Defense To Eviction; (3) Limit Late Fees; (4) Prohibit Unilaterally Imposed Changes To Terms Of Tenancy; (5) Add One-For-One Replacement Of Roommates To The Definition Of Housing Services; (6) Prohibit Eviction Based On Additional Occupants If Landlord Unreasonably Refused Tenant’s Written Request To Add Occupant(S); And (7) Strengthen Tenants’ Rights And Enforcement Of Tenants’ Rights Under The Tenant Protection Ordinance
Emergency Ordinance To Extend The Moratorium On Residential Evictions During The Local Emergency Proclaimed In Response To The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic
Emergency Ordinance (1) Imposing A Moratorium On Residential Evictions, Rent Increase, And Late Fees During The Local Emergency Proclaimed In Response To The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic; (2) Prohibiting Residential And Commercial Evictions Based On Nonpayment Of Rent That Became Due During The Local Emergency When Tenant Suffered A Substantial Loss Of Income Due To COVID-19; (3) Prohibiting Residential Evictions For Non-Payment Of Rent When The Landlord Impeded The Payment Of Rent; And (4) Calling On State And Federal Legislators And On Financial Institutions To Provide Relief To Low-income Homeowners And Landlords
Ordinance Amending Oakland Municipal Code Chapter 16.36, Condominium Conversions, To: (1) Extend The Conversion Rights Requirement To Two- To Four-Unit Residential Buildings; (2) Require That A Conversion Rights Agreement Be Recorded At Latest 60 Days After The Building Permit For The Generating Residential Building Is Issued; (3) Enhance Tenant Rights And Notice Requirements To Tenants; And (4) Make Other Modifications; And To Direct City Administrator Or Designee To Study Alternative Methods Of (A) Ensuring One-For-One Replacement Of Rental Units In The City As A Result Of Condominium Conversions And (B) Increasing Affordable Home Ownership And Reducing Displacement Of Renters Subject To Conversion; And Adopt CEQA Exemption Findings
After a major earthquake, many residential tenants are likely to be displaced from damaged buildings. Tenants of soft-story buildings – multi-unit, wood-frame residential buildings with a first story that lacks adequate strength or stiffness to prevent leaning or collapse in an earthquake – are particularly vulnerable. The Mandatory Seismic Retrofit Ordinance requires that older wood-frame buildings with 5 or more residential units that are vulnerable to major seismic events be seismically retrofitted.
This legislation closes a loophole that speculators have abused to unjustly evict tenants in duplex-triplex buildings. The measure is an important tool to address the housing crisis by giving renters living in smaller buildings the same protections afforded other renters.
While most landlords in Oakland are honorable and support their tenants, the rising market demand for rental housing in Oakland effectively creates an incentive for some landlords to engage in harassing behavior or fail to make repairs to pressure existing tenants in rent-controlled units to move so that rents can be raised.
The Tenant Protection Ordinance provides tenants legal recourse in instances where landlords subject them to harassing behavior.
With the dissolution of Redevelopment Agencies throughout California, Oakland lost millions of dollars in annual revenue used to finance and support affordable housing development projects. Affordable housing is vital to ensuring that Oakland remains a place for everyone, providing housing to Oakland households and workers as well as seniors on a fixed income.
This legislation continues Oakland’s commitment to funding affordable housing by allocating significant funding towards affordable housing.