The City Council on Tuesday night, after hours of discussion and sometimes scathing commentary from the public, took several steps to help resolve the city's rental housing crisis.
For months, council meetings have been attended by hundreds of tenants seeking some sort of rent stabilization, and by landlords and property managers who want no such thing.
First up Tuesday was an ordinance that would require landlords to offer six- or 12-month leases to tenants. But after some discussion, the council agreed that shorter times might be better for some tenants and directed City Attorney Jannie Quinn to amend the law to say that any other mutually agreeable term would be acceptable. The council also scrapped a provision in the ordinance that would require rental properties to register with the city.
Councilman John Inks was the only one to oppose the law, which would take effect in March. He said it would not help tenants and was just the beginning of rent control. The comment drew applause from a member of the public.
"I look at these people holding up rent-stabilization signs and say, 'I'm sorry, we're not going to be able to help you the way you want to be helped,' " said Councilman Ken Rosenberg. "We're creating more of a bureaucracy than is going to help, but we have to do something."
A bit of profane commentary came from a member of the public, who told council members, "This is all bull----." The woman added that she had just received a letter from her landlord stating that her rent would increase by 30 percent if the council took action on the issue.
The council also voted 6-1, again with Inks opposed, to set aside $150,000 from the Below-Market-Rate Housing Fund for tenants facing rent hikes. The money would be available for at least four months and be administered by the Community Services Agency of Mountain View, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills.
Also discussed Tuesday was the possibility of requiring a three-step process to settle rent disputes.
The first step would be conciliation. A tenant with a concern would contact an arbitration service provider like Project Sentinel, which would then contact the landlord to try to work it out.
"It's kind of informal," said City Manager Dan Rich on Wednesday.
The second step would be mandatory mediation, which would put the tenant, landlord and mediator in the same room.
"More formal, but not binding," said Rich. "If they don't agree, then maybe they go to the third step."
The third step would be arbitration, wherein an arbitrator would make a binding decision for both sides.
The council in straw votes agreed to the three-step process, but wasn't able to settle on some of the details.
Quinn, the city attorney, was told to craft a resolution that would include a binding third step, favoring arbitration by an outside party. Going to that step could be triggered by a rent hike, security deposit dispute, a notice to vacate, a broken lease or a landlord's failure to maintain the property.
The council considered, but rejected the idea of establishing a database of every rent increase and eviction in Mountain View.
City staff was also asked to look into providing safe parking areas for people who are living in their vehicles.
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