The Alameda County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday postponed a public hearing on proposed “just cause” for eviction ordinance as well as a dispute-resolution measure for rental housing providers and tenants.

Supervisor David Haubert, vice president of the board, deferred both proposals until the meeting scheduled for March 26, 2024. The county has a long-established process to allow each member of the board to defer an item for up to two regular meetings. This process has been widely exercised by the board on various issues.

District 2 Supervisor Elisa Marquez, who was appointed to the board in April 2023, expressed disagreement with Vice President Haubert’s deferral and unsuccessfully attempted to override the postponement.

CAA supports the deferral as the association’s analysis of the ordinance finds many harmful provisions that unfairly punish housing providers for owning rental properties in Alameda County.

For example, the just cause ordinance would increase the relocation payment for no-fault tenancy terminations from one month’s contracted rent, as stipulated by the California Tenant Protection Act (AB 1482), to up to five months of contracted rent or HUD’s fair market rent, whichever is greater. Additionally, the ordinance proposes a scheme to fix the price of a substantially renovated unit at its pre-renovation rental rate.

Furthermore, the ordinance would establish a just cause fee to operate the new bureaucracy. This is a first-of-its-kind fee that does nothing but increase the cost of providing rental housing in Alameda County.

CAA urges its members to add the March 26 meeting to their calendars and join the association in opposing the ordinance.

In the meantime, Alameda County rental housing providers are invited to thank Vice President Haubert at David.Haubert@acgov.org for postponing the public hearing, allowing the board to further study the negative ramifications of the proposal and hear from stakeholders who would be impacted by the misguided law. For questions, please contact Rhovy Lyn Antonio at rantonio@caanet.org.