After passing a much-anticipated rent stabilization ordinance last month which was finalized by the city council March 5, the City of Concord said Monday it will suspend its implementation.
The ordinance was scheduled to go into effect on April 4, but now the policy may end up in the hands of the voters.
On Friday, Concord’s city clerk received a proposed referendum petition, indicating plans to gather signatures to place a referendum on ordinance the November ballot.
The city said Monday its city attorney has 10 business days to prepare and issue an impartial summary. Following this step, the petitioners will have 30 calendar days to gather the required number of valid signatures to allow the referendum to move forward.
Signatures will have to be verified through the Contra Costa County Clerk, and there must be 7,204 valid signatures from registered Concord voters to qualify for the November ballot.
The city said in a statement Monday that if the petition qualifies, the city council will have the choice of repealing the ordinance or placing it on the November ballot to let the voters decide.
The issue of rent stabilization in Concord has been discussed for years.
In January 2023, the council expressed its desire to enact tenant protections and reiterated that goal in Concord’s Housing Element.
The council has since discussed the matter in eight public meetings on this topic and has heard from dozens of property owners and tenants.
The ordinance amends Concord Municipal Code Chapter 19.40 Residential Tenant Protection Program and increases the “just cause” eviction protections, expands the city’s rent registry, and establishes a rent stabilization program.
Single-family homes would not be subject to the proposed ordinance. Neither would rented condominium units or rented accessory dwelling units. Duplexes in which the owner lives in one of the units would also not be subject to either rent stabilization or just cause for eviction regulations.
The ordinance would limit annual rent increases to 3 percent, or 60% of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), whichever is lower, and will apply to multi-family rental complexes of two or more units built before Feb. 1, 1995.
The city would also require landlords to have just cause before evicting tenants.
In February, the council voted 4-1 in favor of the ordinance, with Laura Hoffmeister dissenting.
Hoffmeister said she couldn’t support the ordinance because it could punish landlords doing the right thing for a few who weren’t. She also said she didn’t see rent control solving high housing prices in other cities.
She also said rent raises of 3 percent or 60 percent of CPI was too low.
The referendum process is controlled by state law. A summary of the ordinance and a link to the complete ordinance can be found at cityofconcord.org/housing.
15 comments
Where do I sign? I hope that voters can see how rent control hurts both tenants and landlords.
Trusting City Council members and most CA voters to understand basic economics is a big leap…
Hoffmeister is right 3% or .6 of CPI (whichever is less) is too low even if you believe Rent Control works, which it doesn’t.
For sure going to sign that petition. This is so insane. It’s not your property. Who are you to tell anybody what they can charge and the biggest insane part is you’re trying to force property owners to pay tenants money when they leave? yeah that’s a big NO! Parasites! Any council member for this should be rooted out of that counsel For even thinking about passing something like that! Aren’t these people appointed I’m pretty sure somebody told me they are either way all these people need to be recalled and I would say prosecuted for trying to pass communist laws. Is there a prosecutor or law-enforcement officer out there that can prosecute these guys for violating the communist control act of 1954 passed by Dwight de Eisenhower? They may not belong to the communist party (bet a few do), but they are neo communists, trying to undermine private property rights using the Bolshevik playbook.
Some Sanity has come to the situation.
They want free housing like during Covid when they all got over.
I hope Claycord posts where people can sign the petition.
Will they add, that Insurance Co. must MOT increase their policy more than 3%… That All Taxes cannot go up by more than 3%…
Claycord- please prominently post where someone can sign this petition when it is ready. I will encourage all my Concord friends and family to sign.
Thank you.
Anon you are lost hopefully the light from above can help you find your way.I don’t know how old you are but us “baby boomers”are saving this world.
Passing the buck to the Dem-controlled vote counters…how clever
Which Contra Costa election do you believe was unfairly counted? Party registration numbers are publicly reported and we are a majority Democrat county.
That’s the problem democratic Party.Let the games begin.
The city counsel wants landlords to treat renters like prostitutes: You actually pay you to leave after they make your house feel dirty.
This is incorrect, in that single family homes and condos will indeed be put under the just cause eviction portion of the ordinance. You know, where a homeowner has to pay off a renter to get them out, even after the “lease” expires. Insanity…
“Single-family homes would not be subject to the proposed ordinance.
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