Title
Introduction of Ordinance Amending the Alameda Municipal Code by Amending Article XV (Rent Control, Limitations on Evictions and Relocation Payments to Certain Displaced Tenants) to Adopt and Incorporate Provisions Concerning Capital Improvement Plans (CIP) for Rental Units in the City of Alameda. (Community Development 265) [Not heard on April 20, 2021]
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On January 19, 2021, City Council introduced an ordinance to revise provisions of the City's Capital Improvement Plans to permit, subject to certain limitations, landlords to "pass-through" to tenants the amortized cost of certain capital improvements. See Exhibit 1. Council also included that any pass-throughs could not be imposed until 12 months after Council rescinded the declaration of the local emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On February 2, 2021, City Council, rather than holding the ordinance on a second reading, requested staff to revise the ordinance in order to cap permanently the amount of any pass-through to no more than 5% of a tenant's rent and to prohibit a pass-through for any capital improvements where the landlord has received a rent increase for such improvements under the fair return on property process. Staff has made those revisions and discussed those revisions with landlord and tenant stakeholder groups. Staff is presenting the Ordinance, as revised, for Council's consideration.
BACKGROUND
In April 2016, shortly after the City Council first adopted the City's comprehensive rent stabilization ordinance and established the City's first rent program, the City Council adopted a resolution (Resolution 15138) concerning a Capital Improvement Plan Policy. Under that Policy, if a landlord repaired or replaced certain "capital improvements" (as defined in the Policy), a landlord could impose a rent increase (in addition to any other authorized rent increases) to recover the cost of such improvements. ...
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