Concord enacts rent ordinance after referendum withdrawn
Council to reexamine single-family home rules at May meeting.
CONCORD, CA (Apr. 18, 2024) — The city’s new rent ordinance goes into effect April 19, after a resident’s effort to put the measure before voters failed to collect the required signatures before the April 18 deadline.
The Residential Tenant Protection Program establishes a Rent Stabilization Program, increases “just cause,” no-fault eviction protections and expands the city’s Rent Registry.
Tenant rights groups have long advocated for more safeguards for Concord renters, but Jo Sciarroni began the petition drive last month because she objected to the inclusion of single-family homes in the just cause eviction portion.
According to Mayor Edi Birsan, the City Council will discuss the single-family home component again at the May 14 meeting.
“We could amend the ordinance; we could decide to put it on the ballot if we can’t make up our minds or we don’t want to do it ourselves; or we could do nothing,” Birsan told the Pioneer.
Single-family homes
Before the council approved the rules 4-1 earlier this year, Councilmember Carlyn Obringer brought up concerns about single-family homeowners not being aware that they would be included. Councilmember Laura Hoffmeister also said she had been approached by residents who were just learning about the plan.
“My policy is if there are any two councilmembers that want to discuss something, they can turn to me as the mayor and I will be the third to get it on the agenda – regardless of whether I’m in favor of it or not,” Birsan said. “There’s definitely enough confusion in regard to single-family homes and just cause that we should discuss this and see if there is a clarifying amendment or changes.”
Sciarroni did not return the Pioneer’s call for a comment after she withdrew the petition, but she previously called the ordinance “an unfair taking of property rights, especially when it concerns single-family homes.”
The rent stabilization and rent roll-back sections only apply to multi-family rental complexes of two or more units built before Feb. 1, 1995. Single-family homes and condos are included in the just-cause, no-fault eviction portions.
If the council decides to adjust the rules for single-family homes, there would be a second reading in 30 days before any changes would take effect.
Bev Britton
Bev Britton graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of North Dakota and moved to the Bay Area with her soon-to-be husband Jim in 1986. She was features editor at the Contra Costa Times in Walnut Creek before becoming managing editor of the Contra Costa Sun in Lafayette in 1995. She retired from newsrooms in 2001, but an ad for the Clayton Pioneer drew her back in. The family moved to Lake Wildwood in the Gold Country a few years ago - but working at the Pioneer keeps her in touch with her old neighborhoods in Concord and Clayton.