Overview:
Renters and landlords clash over proposed rent stabilization ordinance
In a dramatic shift in policy, the Santa Barbara City Council on Tuesday night showed support for a rent increase moratorium, while it crafts a separate rent stabilization ordinance.
The City Council met for more than four hours to discuss rent protections for tenants while also listening to concerns of property owners.
The council will come back in January to formally vote on a rent moratorium, as well as update its Just Cause eviction ordinance. The vote was 4-3, with Councilmembers Oscar Gutierrez, Meagan Harmon, Wendy Santamaria and Kristen Sneddon supporting the moratorium.
“This is a big moment, certainly one to remember in the arc of our shared journey toward a more just, more stable, more resilient Santa Barbara,” said Councilwoman Harmon.
More than 150 people packed the City Council chamber Tuesday night.
The council directed staff to craft a rent stabilization ordinance, a process that could take up to a year. In the meantime, it also supported a halt on rent increases while the city works on the details of the ordinance. Councilwoman Santamaria also pushed for the moratorium to have a unspecified retroactive date.
The city staff will work on the ordinance over the next few weeks and present a formal plan in January.
Renters and property owners filled the council seats and an additional overflow room. As the meeting stretched into its third hour, tenant advocate groups ordered pizza and ate dinner while watching the proceedings on a large screen TV from the secondary room.
Renters and their advocates have pushed hard for a rent stabilization ordinance, citing rising rents, which force people out of the community. Property owners called the proposal “rent control,” and contended that it is essentially a taking of private property.
Among the speakers was renter Hillary Blackerby. She said the city is fully capable of creating an ordinance that is legally defensible.
“It seems that landlords always threaten lawsuits, but remember the real threat in our community, there are several, but one of them is on the first of the month, or whenever a lease renewal comes up,” Blackerby said. “The fabric of our community tears just a little bit more, people are priced out.”
Blackerby said there is a power imbalance between tenants and landlords.
“It is a business,” Blackerby said. “If you own property, if it doesn’t work out for you, you can get a job like the rest of us.”
Don Katich, general manager of Radius Commercial Real Estate, defended property owners. He pointed the blame at the City Council for the local housing crisis.
“This is not a fight between landlords and tenants,” Katich said. “This really is an issue that is decades in the making with a ‘closed for business’ sign on City Hall for housing developers.”
He said the proposal is punishing those housing providers who stepped in to fill the void and built housing during a prior slow-growth era by the city.
Katich told the City Council to look at other cities in California that have tried to pass rent control and have been sued by property owners.
“Why put the city’s legal finances in jeopardy to adopt a more restrictive plan that has not been proven in any location to provide longterm stability, increasing overall housing affordability or inspiring additional housing supply,” Katich said.
Ana Arce, policy advocate for CAUSE, encouraged the council to help tenants while the city drafts a rent stabilization ordinance.
“As this workplan moves forward, tenants are exposed to immediate harm,” Arce said. “Landlords will raise rents or pursue no-fault evictions before a permanent ordinance is in place.”
Although he opposes the proposed rent stabilization ordinance, Councilman Mike Jordan said he would work to create the best policy for the city.
“I will continue not to support the remedies that we have seen,” Jordan said.
Jordan said rent caps contribute to the loss of housing stock and degradation of units.
“In my mind it is a benefit only to the current tenant,” Jordan said. “The subsequent tenants don’t get the benefit.”
Jordan added “The cost to administer this will be crippling.”
Stanley Tzankov, co-founder of the Santa Barbara Tenants Union, urged the council to pass the strongest rent stabilization ordinance possible.
“I beg you, don’t just pass any policy to get it off your list,” Tzankov said. “We need to get it right. We have a moral obligation to show that our city can care for our people.”
Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse said the ordinance was “burdening,” the city staff.
He said local voters opposed Prop. 33, the statewide ballot measure to create rent control, last November.
“These are partnerships,” Rowse said. “Landlords and tenants have private partnerships.”
He said both parties know the contracts they sign.
“They don’t need us in between to function,” Rowse said.
He also said rent control ordinances defy economics.
“The market is not the Easter Bunny,” Rowse said. “You don’t get to believe or not believe. The market is going to win in the end.”