HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/24/2026 Item 4a, Price
Barry Price <pricebarrya@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday,
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Rental Registry Study Session
Dear Mayor, Councilmembers, and Staff:
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. I sincerely appreciate the time and effort
staff have put into engaging with stakeholders and preparing the comprehensive report accompanying
the agenda for today’s study session.
We all understand the need for more housing in San Luis Obispo, and we all agree that decreasing
regulatory burdens will help us achieve that shared goal. If we want to increase supply responsibly, we
need accurate baseline information. You can’t plan housing growth in the dark. In that regard, a rental
registry is not anti-housing. It is a prerequisite for serious pro-housing policy.
There are understandable concerns about the impacts of the program, especially on small operators.
But what truly hurts small landlords is sweeping regulation born from uncertainty. Precision is protective.
Without data, fear drives policy. With data, evidence drives policy. A well-designed and implemented
rental registry will protect responsible landlords while enabling growth.
Some may frame the Rental Registry as a regulatory or enforcement tool, but I ask you to think of it as a
pro-housing infrastructure tool that can directly support increasing supply. A comprehensive and
mandatory rental registry will provide accurate counts of rental units in the City, real-time data on the
various kinds of units (ADUs, duplexes, multifamily, single-family rentals), and information on vacancy
rates and the geographic distribution of rentals throughout the City. None of this information is readily
available now. But with this data, the City will be able to increase its housing stock intelligently and with
precision.
Importantly for markets like SLO, the registry will help distinguish short-term rentals from long-term
housing and address the problem of “ghost housing” that is technically residential but functionally hotel
inventory.
When cities lack the kind of visibility that a rental registry provides, growing tenant complaints can
increase pressure to regulate more broadly and with more restrictive policy. Better data from a
comprehensive and mandatory registry allows for more targeted, pro-development policy, can help
expedite permits and reduce fees for compliant landlords, and focus code enforcement on problem
properties. It allows the City to address health and safety issues early and builds trust in the community.
That trust can make it easier for elected officials to approve higher density projects with streamlined
approvals. A comprehensive and mandatory rental registry actually allows the city to avoid sweeping
regulations because it can target real problems more precisely.
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Additionally, the registry will provide important information for our Housing Element update by identifying
where rental concentration exists, where infrastructure may need upgrading to support additional
density, and where preservation strategies are necessary to prevent net loss of units. It will support our
efforts to meet our Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) goals, strengthen applications for state
and federal housing funds, and improve compliance reporting.
To summarize, a rental registry is not a control mechanism — it’s housing infrastructure. We regulate
and track roads, utilities, and commercial buildings because data helps us plan for growth. Housing
deserves the same level of visibility if we want to increase supply responsibly. If implemented correctly,
the registry will reduce uncertainty — not increase it — and create the political and planning foundation
needed to grow our housing supply.
We can’t continue to make housing decisions based on incomplete information. In a tight coastal
market, that’s not responsible governance. I encourage you to move forward without delay by
implementing a comprehensive and mandatory rental registry during the current 2025-2027 planning
cycle.
Respectfully,
Barry Price
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