It has been said many times that it’s better to have a seat at the table than be on the menu. And in a recent effort by the San Diego City Council to adopt a new Tenant Protection Ordinance (TPO), the Southern California Rental Housing Association (SCRHA) through advocacy and collaboration, literally created the table as the biggest policy in two decades served as the meal.
In early spring 2023, SCRHA worked to get the industry involved via a working group as the San Diego Mayor and City Council signaled, they would be attempting to update a 20-year-old Just Cause Termination of Tenancy law.
In late April, SCRHA members made their voices heard as they packed the chambers of the San Diego City Council to share their concerns with an at-the-time proposed TPO.
The association diligently worked in the lead-up to the meeting to ensure as much consistency as possible with state law, and those efforts were reflected in the presented draft. Particularly concerning to the SCRHA were several areas of the ordinance that could create unintended consequences, especially for mom-and-pop rental housing providers. Specifically, the additional relocation assistance that would be required for No-Fault Termination of Tenancy and limitations on substantial remodels of aging rental housing stock.
Following five hours of public testimony, the City Council took several key amendments, including:
- Requiring that copies of Termination of Tenancy notices be provided to the Housing Commission within three business days of serving notice. An additional amendment was taken to delay the requirement until 30 days after the submission portal goes live, which is estimated to be summer 2024.
- An amendment to make it clear that a tenant must respond to an offer to return to the unit within 30 days so rental owners don't have to hold their units off market for a punitive amount of time.
- Additional time for exemption notification delivery.
- Annual reporting from the city on effects of the ordinance.
- Exemption for nonprofit transitional housing.
- Amendment that the Council consider means testing or a ceiling on relocation payments, subject to legal review and data from the housing commission.
The ordinance passed with the amendments with an 8-1 vote. The ordinance was approved at the second reading on May 16, and went into effect on June 24.
Thanks to the advocacy of SCHRA and its members, the worst-case scenarios with the TPO were avoided. The initial framework, which was created with only tenant advocate input, proposed dangerous concepts such as “first right of return” at previous rental rate, up to six month’s rent in relocation and $200 per day for temporary relocation. Additionally, tenant advocates wanted to prohibit termination of tenancy during the school year for residents with school-age children. The Council heard the message loud and clear: It’s not ‘us versus them,’ it’s about avoiding unintended consequences that would have a severe and detrimental effect on housing in San Diego, all while protecting the residents.