HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/24/2026 Item 4a, Chou
Joanne Chou <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Public comment - rental registry
I am a former resident of San Luis Obispo and manager of an entity that owns several apartments near Cal
Poly. Our goal has been to provide safe and affordable housing to students as part of supporting public
education.
I have lived in San Francisco for the last 25 years. The city has a rental registry among other laws. The trend
has been for owners to 1) allow units to remain empty; 2) convert units to short term rentals (eg Airbnbs with
very high nightly rents to offset the limit number of allowable short term rental days); or 3) sell rental properties
to allow investors to build condos. Together with the increasingly high costs and limited supply of insurance
providers, among other things, the combined result has been to reduce the supply of rental housing overall. I
have an in law unit downstairs in my house and do not rent out the space because the costs of compliance and
the tenant protections imposed by the city make it unattractively risky (eg, an elderly neighbor had to buy out
her tenants (2 young lawyers) who refused to move as they sought seek protection under SF rent laws. She
was unable to sell the house to fund her own move into housing appropriate for her age.)
I believe a rental registry in San Luis Obispo would do the same to reduce rental housing. At minimum,
landlords would look for ways to pass along the cost of compliance to tenants and make housing in San Luis
increasingly unaffordable.
Sincerely,
J Chou
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