Larkspur nears pivotal hearing on renter protections

Larkspur could soon become the second city in Marin to adopt a local rent control law.

After eight months of balancing the pros and cons, city officials are preparing rent stabilization and just-cause-for-eviction ordinances to put on the table. If they are approved, Larkspur would join Fairfax in approving tenant protections that are stronger than state laws.

The City Council had a three-hour discussion on the topic at its March 15 meeting, voting 4-1 to direct the staff to draft the ordinances. Councilmember Catherine Way dissented.

“To me this is such a significant issue,” Way said, saying that it was too big of a decision for the council. “But I would support a ballot measure in which this goes to our community as a whole to decide on.”

Way said she was recently approached by a landlord who said if rent control was adopted she would pull her rental apartments off the market because the risk wouldn’t be worth it. Way said she feels that many small landlords “would be disproportionately impacted.”

Way also said after seeing an uprising of protest to the approval in Fairfax, the city should be cautious.

Larkspur City Manager Dan Schwarz said officials will likely have to schedule a special meeting to hold the public hearing. As of Monday, no date had been selected, Schwarz said.

After several resident challenges against the Fairfax ordinance, the town has agreed to hold a workshop on its just-cause-for-eviction ordinance. The session is set 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 6 via teleconference.

Larkspur Mayor Gabe Paulson said he wants to be clear that the council’s March 15 vote was not an approval.

“What we’re doing is setting up the possibility of voting up or down an ordinance,” Paulson said.

Paulson said he’s done his own outreach to communicate with tenants and landlords.

“I’ve gotten the sense that there is some middle ground here, and for that reason, I believe we should try, we should give staff direction to write an ordinance, and that’ll at least give us some closure on the issue,” Paulson said.

Councilmembers Kevin Haroff and Kevin Carroll took strong positions in favor of adopting an ordinance.

“I think it should be straightforward, understandable to the public,” Haroff said.

Vice Mayor Scot Candell voted in favor of drafting the ordinance, but he said he still needs some convincing.

Candell said rent control will help people in need now, but it could create a host of unintended consequences, such as driving rental rates even higher and diminishing the housing supply.

“I’m open to hear arguments about why it is worth it to do rent control and help the people now at the expense of hurting people later,” he said.

The discussion of tenant protections emerged last year when tenants of the 455-residence Skylark Apartments called for help after reporting rent increases of 8.8% to 10%.

Since then, Prime Residential, the entity that owns and manages Skylark, has worked with the tenants and the city to establish a housing fund and rental assistance program.

The program offers a 15% rent discount and a limit on annual rent increases for households at or below the 50% area median income. The program covers 31 apartments, according to the company.

The Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act prohibits local rent control regulations on properties constructed after 1995. Detached homes and condominiums are also exempt from rent control.

The Tenant Protection Act caps rent increases at 5% plus the regional consumer price index rate. The maximum increase is 10%. That law is set to expire in 2030.

In its draft form, the proposed ordinance would follow what city officials are calling the “rent stabilization model.” This law would set a rent increase ceiling. If a landlord needed to raise rents beyond that cap in order to obtain a reasonable rate of return, the landlord would have to apply to the city for the increase. Officials would make a determination on the application, which could be appealed to a review body.

The specific rental cap is still up for debate.

For the just-cause eviction ordinance, the draft ordinance would require relocation benefits. That payment would equal the amount of two months of fair-market value rent, calculated by the California Department of Housing and Urban Development.

More than 60 letters were submitted to the council in support and against the proposal, and more than a dozen made their arguments at the March 15 meeting.

“Rent control will push your local housing providers to leave the already limited housing market,” said Angelina Soldatos, director of local public affairs for the California Apartment Association. She said it would inadvertently contribute to housing shortages and loss of affordable housing.

Renters like Tristan Meyer, a tenant of the Skylark apartments, disagreed.

“A strong rent control ordinance won’t solve the housing crisis overnight,” he said.  “It won’t make new construction magically easier, but it is a vitally important stopgap that will protect tenants while the city, county and state work to address the supply problem, because that is ultimately what we’re feeling the brunt of. And rent control will make sure that tenants are not unjustly affected by that.”