26 Feb ‘More Harm Than Help’: New San Pablo Renter Protections Draw Criticism

Housing policy came before the San Pablo City Council yet again on Feb. 17. (Screenshot captured by Samantha Kennedy / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

Advocates of San Pablo renters aren’t happy about the newly passed renter protections that are meant to defend tenants from evictions and harassment.

Council members voted 3-1-1 on Feb. 17 to pass a just cause eviction and anti-harassment ordinance that provides slightly more protection than state law. Abel Pineda voted against the ordinance, and Patricia Ponce abstained.

The ordinance furthers state law by requiring two months of relocation assistance — state law only requires one month — and requires tenants in corporate-owned single-family homes and all newly constructed units be covered.

But the ordinance has its faults, advocates from Rising Juntos and Movement Legal said. One problem they have is that the eviction protections only kick in after a year.

“By removing day one implementation, renters are still forced to wait too long for very basic protections,” said Rhea Laughlin, executive director of Rising Juntos.

Prior versions of the ordinance included eviction protections once tenancy started, but a majority of council members at the last meeting directed staff to instead start those protections at 12 months. Anti-harassment protections, however, do start on day one.

“We are mourning as we witness this council’s refusal to protect the people,” said Tomasa Espinoza of Rising Juntos in Spanish. “It’s a complete contradiction to talk about moral principles when your actions are failing the people who have put their faith in you.”

The council majority, made up of Mayor Elizabeth Pabon-Alvarado, Vice Mayor Rita Xavier and council member Arturo Cruz, also attempted at a previous meeting to strip protections that are already covered under state law by allowing landlords to charge returning tenants who were displaced by renovations higher rents than they were paying before.

Current state law requires landlords to offer that unit to the returning tenant at the previous rate they paid.

Margaret DeMatteo, directing attorney at Movement Legal, wrote that that would have been an “illegal weakening” of state law.

City Attorney Brian Hickey and Kieron Slaughter, the economic development and housing manager, agreed with comments like those from DeMatteo, proposing last-minute revisions to the ordinance to align with state law ahead of the meeting.

“There are not less protections than are otherwise in state law,” said Hickey, who noted that the ordinance proposed before the changes had inadvertently included so-called “right to return” protections that were less than those already provided by state.

The City Council’s most vocal supporter of strong renter protections, Pineda, said that he shared the disappointment that renters had with the ordinance.

“I feel what we have here is just wrong. I feel we are creating more harm than help,” said Pineda, adding that it seemed almost “a redundancy” of state law.

Pabon-Alvarado pushed back on the protections as a whole, singling out rent control and taking aim at Rising Juntos as “for the most part, doing things for their organization and not the people — the entire people — of the city of San Pablo.”

“Who came before us today was an advocacy group. They’re advocating for rent control,” said Pabon-Alvarado.

The San Pablo City Council’s meetings for the last few months have been filled with items related to tenant protections, including some renters calling for a rent control or stabilization ordinance. The Feb. 17 discussion was not on those specific policies, though the ordinance said San Pablo “does not intend to enact any ordinance that would adversely impact housing development or reduce the availability of rental housing.”

Pabon-Alvarado suggested that included rent control.

During the vote, Pineda said that Pabon-Alvarado “can recite the talking points of the [California] Apartment Association and the Realtors Association, but it doesn’t make it true.”

“We’ve always taken care of our people, and you cannot deny that,” responded Pabon-Alvarado.

To which Pineda motioned to the disappointed advocates and renters opposing the ordinance changes in the audience.