HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/28/2025 Item 5a, SLO Tenants Union
SLO Tenants Union <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:October 28 Study Session
28 October 2025
San Luis Obispo City Council
990 Palm Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Dear Mayor and Councilmembers:
Thank you for making renter protections a part of our Major City Goals, and for your commitment
to ensuring safe and stable housing for every resident of our City. We compliment City staff on
their thorough analysis, which identifies significant gaps in tenant protection here in San Luis
Obispo.
The report confirmed that nearly two-thirds of households in SLO are renter-occupied. It is
important to note that these are not just students. Renters include lots of retirees on fixed
income, disabled veterans, new families, young professionals just starting their careers, and just
regular folks–service workers, hospitality workers, health care providers, artists and musicians,
and others who just can’t afford to buy a home
Rental housing is, by definition, unstable. Conditions are often poor, rent hikes and no-fault
evictions are unpredictable, and landlords can exert their out-sized power over their tenants in
innumerable small ways. The anxiety and fear this generates is real, and has real-life impacts on
mental and physical health, public safety, and neighborhood wellness.
It is clear that the City’s prior efforts to ensure safe and stable rental housing were extremely
effective in identifying units that failed to meet basic habitability standards and code
requirements. That very effectiveness is what engendered the backlash, and it is unfortunate that
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a prior City Council prematurely abandoned those efforts. When they did so, it came with a
promise that new policies would be implemented to meet those goals. Now is the time to keep
that promise.
Currently, only one-third of rental units in the City are covered by state law, which has many gaps
and loopholes that allow bad faith actors to perpetuate unsafe and unhealthy living conditions,
harass tenants, evict them without cause, and intimidate or push out tenants who ask for repairs
or improvements. Because existing law does not effectively protect most renters in our City, and
existing programs do not meet the needs of many residents, it is critical that the City act without
delay to expand the coverage of the Tenant Protection Act and fill those gaps.
The Tenant Protection Act allows local ordinances that are more protective as long as they meet
specified criteria. Many other cities across the state and nation have already taken action to stem
abuses, fill the gaps in state law, close loopholes, and help ensure a safe, secure, and affordable
housing supply for its residents. The City of SLO is far behind in protecting its tens of thousands of
tenants who live, work, and vote here.
The program options staff have presented are common-sense solutions to fill these gaps and
ensure all rental units meet basic habitability standards, tenants aren't evicted without cause or
justification, and the City can collect basic information on our rental housing stock that can be
used to formulate effective policy. These programs have been implemented successfully in
many other cities and counties across California and the nation, and there is no reason they
cannot be successfully implemented here. We will be better off as a community if we can muster
the political will to implement those recommendations timely.
A mandatory Rental Registry is a reasonable first step, and we ask that the registry design
prioritizes public transparency with aggregate data, while protecting renter privacy. Also, registry
participation must be tied to enforcement mechanisms.
We also emphasize the importance of access to mediation and legal counsel for tenants, which
substantially increases tenants’ chances of keeping their homes rather than being thrown out
unjustly. We strongly support expansion of these services locally.
But the registry alone is just a data tool and we need more than that. The City’s Housing Element
and Major City Goals explicitly commit to “facilitating stronger protections for renters.” We urge
the City to move promptly to close the loopholes in state law, extend protections to all rentals,
prevent “renovictions,” address second-hand smoke and other health and safety matters, and
codify these protections in our municipal code before the Tenant Protection Act expires.
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We ask Council to commit to a timeline to get this done in 2026.
Finally, we want to emphasize that renter protections prevent homelessness. Evictions are the
number one cause of homelessness. By taking action today, we can build a future where our
children can grow up with a healthy, safe, and dignified roof over their head; where our young
families and professionals will have the stability and security they need to grow; and our seniors
and veterans will be able to live without fear of living their last years on the streets or in a shelter.
Thank you for doing this important work on behalf of the majority of voters in San Luis Obispo.
Respectfully,
SLO Tenants Union
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We are a Tenant-led organization dedicated to defending and advancing the right to safe, secure, and affordable housing for all in San Luis Obispo County.
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