The City Council favored so many ideas for dealing with the displacement of Menlo Park residents on Tuesday that the city manager interrupted in an attempt to rein in the discussion.
“We thought you would pick and choose a couple of them,” said City Manager Alex McIntyre, after a list of 10 possible actions grew to 15. “This is going to take a very long time to do.”
He pointed out that the city only has two staff members to deal with housing issues and they are also tasked with economic development.
The council settled on sending all 15 possible actions to the Housing Commission so that it could prioritize three items to act on first, with Councilman Rich Cline absent from the meeting due to an illness. The commission’s next meeting is Feb. 1, after the council’s goal-setting session that is set to take place from 1 to 5 p.m. Jan. 27, at which the council may refine those actions.
Actions that could be implemented within six months include changing city guidelines to allow displaced residents to stay on the affordable housing list for up to three years and possibly reinstating people who have fallen off the list; using the city’s affordable housing fund to help preserve market-affordable units in adjacent cities such as Redwood City and East Palo Alto; providing mandatory non-binding arbitration for rent increase disputes; and offering relocation assistance to displaced renters.
Two things that were taken off the table, at least for 2017, were rent control and just cause for eviction policies.
Community Legal Services of East Palo Alto attorney Keith Ogden said rent control “is effective against displacement” in East Palo Alto, the only city in San Mateo County that has the policy, but California Apartment Association executive Joshua Howard said the tool is hampered by the fact that controls can only be applied to buildings constructed before 1995.
“I’m not in favor of rent control,” said Mayor Kirsten Keith. “I don’t think that it is useful at this time.”
Keith was in favor of a just cause policy, but others were not.
“I think there’s a lot of tools that will have real impact and I’m uncomfortable going to (just cause for eviction) at this point,” said Mayor Pro Tem Peter Ohtaki, adding that the policy would require additional staffing for enforcement.
State law mandates landlords must give 30-day notice if evicting a resident who has been in a unit for less than a year, or a 60-day notice if a tenant for more than a year, but allows landlords to evict tenants without reason.
Other possible actions the city will consider include reducing parking requirements for affordable projects; promoting home sharing, such as seniors with mobility issues sharing their residence with college students who can help with chores, with the possibility of Airbnb prohibitions; allowing below-market homeowners to sublet rooms to below-market renters; and enacting an anti-retaliation ordinance that would protect against a landlord retaliating against a tenant over a code enforcement issue such as a bedbug infestation.
Housing Commission Chair Michele Tate said one possible way to reduce parking requirements would be for the city to mandate that employers at developments that include affordable housing and office space have to hire a certain percentage of workers from the neighborhood.
Councilman Ray Mueller, who attended the meeting by phone from Norfolk, Va., was at first against the idea, stating concerns that it could lead to all developers with any affordable housing in their projects to seek reduced parking, but Housing and Economic Development Manager Jim Cogan said the concept would apply to projects within a quarter-mile of the train tracks in the downtown core.
Two experts discussed local trends that could point to a downward tick in the jobs/housing gap.
Jessica Mullin, an official with the county’s Office of Sustainability, shared new figures showing that the jobs/housing gap was roughly 15 jobs for every housing unit in 2015 — with 10,400 jobs created vs. 700 housing units built — whereas it was 26 jobs for every unit between 2010 to 2014.
Penelope Huang, a managing broker with Dreyfus Sotheby’s International Realty in Menlo Park, said the housing market is softening, with the number of homes sold in the city the “lowest it’s ever been” in 2016.
“We had a rental sit vacant for two months (last year that went) … for $300 less than the previous tenant paid,” Huang said. “Everything is cyclical. … I would just caution you to go slowly and see what the effect of the housing (currently being built) is.”
It also became clear Tuesday that the Housing Commission — of which two members attended the joint study session that lasted nearly three hours — will be holding meetings more often. The council discussed boosting meetings to once a month. Though the commission held eight meetings last year, it traditionally meets quarterly.
“The Housing Commission needs more support than it receives,” said 2016 council candidate Cecilia Taylor, one of two community members who asked that the commission meet monthly and provide detailed minutes out of its meetings.
Tate also asked that the body be expanded from five to seven members, similar to most other commissions, to better deal with absences.