Keeping Redwood City Residents in Redwood City
In an effort to address displacement, the City of Redwood City has worked with a diverse group of stakeholders to create a citywide Anti-Displacement Strategy.
In a citywide effort to meet our unique community housing needs for people at all income levels, Redwood City has prioritized the following four housing goals: Preserve, Protect, Produce, and Partner.
To address the City’s first two housing goals — Preserve and Protect — the City has developed the Anti-Displacement Strategy (ADS) to serve as a policy roadmap and foundation for how we can achieve these goals.
What is Included in the Anti-Displacement Strategy?
The Anti-Displacement Strategy (ADS) focuses on three policy areas and provides high-level recommendations for the City Council’s consideration:
- Tenant Protection Policies
- Preservation of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing
- Mobile Home Preservation
How Were the Policy Recommendations Developed?
After over two years of listening to residents, property owners, local and regional housing experts, and conducting extensive research, we have developed the following strategic policy recommendations to preserve affordable housing and protect housing options for the City’s low- and moderate-income residents. These recommendations were developed to maximize limited resources and, importantly, to meet the needs of our residents that are most vulnerable to the risk of displacement.
Protecting Tenants with Relocation Assistance and Minimum Lease Terms
Tenant protections are helpful in reducing the displacement of those low-income households and in some cases, are essential for those families to maintain their housing stability.
To continue supporting our residents that are most at-risk of displacement, the City will need to consider adopting the following policy recommendations to comply and align with state law, prevent displacement, and provide housing stability for our most vulnerable residents.
Recommendation #1: Tenant Protection Ordinance Amendments
Adopt ordinance amendments that will revise the Relocation Assistance and Minimum Lease Term requirements and add just cause eviction protections.
Proposed Relocation Assistance Amendments:
· Proposed Amendment #1 - Adopt a just cause eviction policy to align with the State Tenant Protection Act (AB 1482), which will allow for the City to have an enforceable Relocation Assistance Ordinance (RAO)
· Proposed Amendment #2 - Keep relocation payment amounts at three to four months of Fair Market Rent (FMR) to continue assisting displaced tenants with their next security deposit and first and last month’s rent.
· Proposed Amendment #3 - Retain the income eligibility criteria. Tenants must earn 80% of area median income (AMI) or less to receive relocation assistance. In addition, the City will reduce the income eligibility burden of proof requirements for tenants to ensure that those most vulnerable tenants can easily access relocation benefits and reduce the administrative burden of means testing tenants. Tenants that are ineligible for the City’s Relocation Assistance Ordinance will still qualify for one month of relocation assistance benefits under AB 1482.
· Proposed Amendment #4 - Expand the property eligibility for Relocation Assistance to include 2 to 4 unit buildings occupied by tenants to align with State law, expand the policy’s effective range, and acknowledge that displacement is not limited to larger structures.
· Proposed Amendment #5 - Streamline the Relocation Assistance Ordinance’s noticing and payment process so that it’s easier for rental property owners, managers, and tenants to understand and access.
Proposed Minimum Lease Terms Amendments:
· Proposed Amendment #6 - Reduce the Minimum Lease Terms Ordinance requirements by only requiring landlords to offer 12-month leases for the initial lease period.
· Proposed Amendment #7 - Expand the property eligibility for Minimum Lease Terms to include 2-unit buildings occupied by tenants to align with State law and proposed changes to the Relocation Assistance Ordinance.
· Proposed Amendment #8 - Revise the Minimum Lease Terms Ordinance notification requirements to include more information about the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants and more clearly delineate the process if a tenant rejects the 12-month lease offer.
Preservation of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing
While the City continues to work on constructing new subsidized affordable housing units to increase the overall housing supply, more immediate strategies are needed to curb displacement.
Preserving the affordability of unsubsidized affordable housing (UAH) units is one of the most effective strategies for preventing the displacement of residents who cannot keep pace with rising rents.
Through collaborative efforts with diverse stakeholders, we have developed the following recommendations to support the preservation of UAH units:
Recommendation #2: Establish a dedicated housing preservation fund
Recommendation #3: Support the Housing Endowment and Regional Trust (HEART) of San Mateo County’s efforts to create a housing preservation model
Recommendation #4: Support the Lincoln Avenue Capital (LAC) preservation model and other similar preservation models
Recommendation #5: Support Community Land Trusts
Mobile Home Preservation
Mobile homes and mobile home parks in Redwood City provide a valuable source of unsubsidized affordable housing for many residents in the City.
In recent years, there have been a number of mobile home park closures in Santa Clara County, and multiple attempts to close parks within San Mateo County. This matched with the region’s housing crisis fuels an impetus to preserve the City’s mobile home parks as source of affordable housing.
Additionally, many residents in mobile home parks are low- or fixed-income households, non-English speakers, and/or seniors. These populations are particularly vulnerable to displacement from the community.
Currently, State law contains a long list of statutes that are primarily designed to protect abuses against the residents of mobile home parks. However, these requirements are only the minimum standards and can be bolstered by more stringent local standards.
The ADS includes three strategies for preserving this unique form of housing to prevent displacement:
· Recommendation #6: Mobile Home Rezoning
Preserve mobile home living by ensuring that all mobile home parks are zoned under the Mobile Home (MH) zoning category and designated as a residential use in the General Plan.
· Recommendation #7: Mobile Home Ordinance
Adopt a Mobile Home Park Ordinance to strengthen existing State requirements and further define the City’s processes during a park closure or park sale. The proposed ordinance would include additional noticing requirements and expanded relocation assistance — moving allowance, temporary housing, first and last month’s rent plus security deposit, rent differential subsidies, and provision of a relocation counselor.
· Recommendation #8: Repair Needs Assessment and Exploring Funding Opportunities
Provide resources to park residents and owners to support safe and stable housing by conducting a repair and maintenance needs assessment and further exploring City, State, and Federal funding opportunities.
Join the Conversation
The Anti-Displacement Strategy is available for review here, and will be considered by the City’s Housing and Human Concerns Committee (HHCC) on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 7p.m via Zoom. You can find the HHCC meeting agenda and instructions for joining the meeting here.
The City Council will review and consider the Anti-Displacement Strategy in early 2022.
For more information about the ADS, please visit www.RedwoodCity.org/ADS
