Divided Concord council retains eviction policy for single-family homes
CONCORD, CA (May 16, 2024) — The City Council voted 3-2 on May 14 to keep single-family homes in the just cause eviction portion of the new rent ordinance.
In voting yes, Mayor Edi Birsan and Councilmember Laura Nakamura said the new rules shouldn’t be adjusted without first obtaining more statistical information.
“It’s a lot of hypotheticals, and we just don’t know how it’s going to play out,” Nakamura said. “I think we need more data before we make any decisions about something that’s only been in effect for three weeks or so.”
“We agreed that we would review it in a year, and I fully expect that we will do that,” Birsan said. “We will collect that data and if our fears become reality, then we will adjust.”
Ballot measure attempt
The ordinance went into effect April 19, after resident Jo Sciarroni failed to obtain the signatures required for a ballot measure. Sciarroni specifically objected to the inclusion of single-family homes.
Councilmembers Carlyn Obringer and Laura Hoffmeister also raised concerns about single-family homes before the council voted 4-1 to approve it on March 5.
“I brought this up not because of property owners or Realtors, but because of the people of District 2. They’re not landlords – they just live in their single-family homes,” said Obringer, adding that the homeowners “want to have flexibility in the future with the one asset they’ve worked so hard for.”
Under the rules, owners of single-family homes and condos must pay two months’ rent plus $2,000 in moving expenses for a just cause eviction for an owner move-in. During public comment, 14-year resident Marisol Flores Castro said the policy is already helping tenants.
“My neighbor is currently being evicted through no fault of her own because of an owner move-in,” she said. “The relocation assistance package you just passed is the only thing keeping her from ending up homeless with her children.”
The council also considered putting the issue to the voters through a ballot measure, however, that idea did not gain enough traction – with Birsan, Nakamura and Councilmember Dominic Aliano saying they would not support it.
Related story: Concord enacts new rent rules after referendum fails
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.