Title
Introduction of Ordinance Amending the Alameda Municipal Code by Eliminating the Sunset Clause (December 31, 2019) from Ordinance No. 3148 (City of Alameda Rent Review, Rent Stabilization, and Limitations on Evictions Ordinance). (Rent Stabilization 265)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Amy Wooldridge, Interim City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On March 1, 2016, the City Council adopted the Rent Review, Rent Stabilization, and Limitations on Evictions Ordinance (Ordinance 3148), which was effective on March 31, 2016. Section 6-58.200 (Repeal of the Article) provides that the ordinance would be automatically repealed, unless by December 31, 2019, the Council took affirmative action to extend it. This ordinance would delete Section 6-58.200 and, thereby, eliminate the "sunset clause." As a result, Ordinance 3148 and the Rent Stabilization Program, which implements the ordinance, would continue without an expiration date.
BACKGROUND
When the City Council adopted Ordinance 3148 in March 2016, the City of Alameda (City) and the larger Bay Area were in the midst of a rental housing crisis resulting in rapidly increasing rents, displacement of long-term tenants, and unregulated evictions. Ordinance 3148 limits rent increases to one during a 12-month period, provides a binding hearing process for many rent increases over 5%, limits certain types of tenancy terminations, and requires payment of relocation benefits for terminations due to no cause or no fault of the tenant.
In addition, Section 6-58.200 provides that the ordinance would be automatically repealed, unless by December 31, 2019, the Council took affirmative action to extend it. This section is sometimes referred to as the "sunset clause." While the City Council always has the authority to amend, suspend, or repeal an ordinance, the explicit inclusion of the sunset clause was an acknowledgement that the ordinance established a new regulatory framework for the rental ho...
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