HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/24/2026 Item 4a, Silloway
Glenn Silloway <gsilloway@mac.com>
Sent:Tuesday, February
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:rental registry comment 24Feb26
Mayor, Council and Staff: Thank you for your work and for including this comment in your deliberations.
Glenn Silloway
24Feb26
Dear Mayor and Council Members (and staff!):
Thank you for initiating the research into the idea of a rental registry for the City of San Luis
Obispo. Its time has come.
I submit this comment to urge you to adopt Option 3, the Software-based, mandatory rental
registry as defined in the report submitted by Timmi Tway and David Amini. I urge you to
proceed as soon as possible--set the wheels in motion right away knowing that there are
many adjustments to be made as you go. Staff have suggested a slow but purposeful process
with a lot of public exposure, and I support that as long as it is not a reason to postpone.
Here is a set of general comments rather than detailed policy fragments which should
probably wait until there’s a broad design in place.
The purposes of a rental registry are many—it is the foundation for much of the City’s policy
development and policy analysis needed in its project to create policy and program to make
rental housing fair and safe. Here are two important ones:
Perhaps the most basic purpose is to make the rental market transparent. The current
opaque arrangement greatly benefits landlords; renters pay the price.
The City cannot develop or manage rental market policies without accurate, detailed
information about the status of all rentals. This includes the basis for solid policy
evaluations over time to support changes, deletions or additions to policy.
The registry adopted should be robust and extensive by design even if it is implemented
piecemeal over time. Since this is a foundational policy, it is better to plan for future
extensions (such as the inclusion of specific policies like eviction regulations or code
enforcement) now.
By the same token, policies already in place that are related to the registry should be adapted
to run on the same data systems/designs. For example, staff point out how the business
license process might be improved by the registry; this is something that can happen if you
plan for it.
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Part of a market being transparent is that relevant information about it is available to people
who participate in the market. Landlords as well as current or prospective tenants should be
able to access certain data and reports online on demand. I acknowledge the need to protect
privacy here, but it is inherent in the matter that rental properties occupy a physical space:
For the most part landlords/managers will be identifiable. Further, rental rates past and
present are necessary to understand how the market is working. The notion that buyers and
sellers see the same price is the core idea of why markets can produce public goods.
There is much to be done, but you have started down a productive path.
Glenn Silloway
Morro Bay
Glenn Silloway
gsilloway@mac.com
m: 805-748-9475
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