SANTA ROSA (BCN)—The Santa Rosa City Council on Tuesday passed a rent stabilization ordinance and an ordinance preventing landlords from evicting tenants without just cause.
Both passed by a 4-2 vote. If approved on final reading Aug. 30, the ordinances will take effect 30 days later.
The 24-page rent stabilization ordinance will affect about 11,000 rental properties in the city. It rolls back rents to Jan. 1 for units that were being rented at that time and allows landlords to increase rents up to 3 percent a year starting Jan. 1, 2017.
For units that were rented after Jan. 1, 2016, a landlord must wait 12 months before increasing rents up to 3 percent.
The ordinance, however, also includes a process for landlords to seek rent increases above 3 percent a year by filing a petition with the city’s Program Administrator.
The City Council passed an emergency ordinance on July 7 that placed a 90-day moratorium on certain rental increases.
The just cause eviction ordinance prohibits evictions but contains 10 exceptions that include non-payment of rent, committing or allowing a nuisance, illegal use of the rental unit, refusal to renew a lease and refusal to provide access to the rental unit.
Approximately 47 percent of Santa Rosa residents are renters, and nearly half of rental households are paying 30 percent or more of their income on housing costs, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The vacancy rate of rental units in Santa Rosa is approximately 1 percent, according to the city’s Department of Housing and Community Services.