The Advocate for AUG Berkeley’s Rental Housing Providers 2019 Founded 1980 • Charter Member, California Rental Housing Association 2041 Bancroft Way, Suite 203, Berkeley, CA • www.bpoa.org Rentopia Kathryn Snowden, President, BPOA Welcome to the brave new world of state-and-local rent control. Not only are most rental units subject to the Berkeley Rent Ordinance, but those that are not may soon fall under State of California rent caps. There has been zero thought given to establishing a new form of rent control that’s fair. By “fair” here, I mean defining a new social compact for rental housing that protects owners as well as tenants. Given that the clock is being turned back, it’s time to push hard for fairness. There is no reason to go back to the real damage that a rigid (and even more corrupt) form of rent control can cause. Seeing tenants as de-facto owners Here is rent control as the Rent Stabilization Board (RSB) defines it: “The ordinance falls within Berkeley’s tradi- tion of demanding equal rights for all, providing tenants in good standing with a level of security in their homes that is nearly equivalent to that available to homeowners with fixed-rate mortgages. Over the years, Berkeley voters have reaffirmed support for protecting tenants from arbitrary eviction, but the RSB has consistently sought to treat tenants as de-facto owners. Did Berkeley voters actually decide to overlook the time, money, and risk of owning real property? They did not. But the RSB acts as if they did. If we accept RSB’s premise of “near equivalency,” it follows that residential renters in Berkeley should share the burden that owners currently bear for increased taxes, fees, repairs, and upgrades. And when individual, means- tested tenants are exempted, the community, not the owner, should make up the difference. That’s what “fair” actually means. What does fair rent control look like? Here’s an outline of a new social compact for rental housing in Berkeley. The aim is to balance the claims of own- ers and renters, recognizing that if the latter are “near-equivalent” owners, they should share in the risks and cost that owning residential rental properties involves. Here’s an outline: 1. A system of publicly-funded vouchers would support vulnerable and low-income tenants. Their plight is the responsibility of the entire community, as with welfare in general. continued on page 10 MEMBERS MEETING Inside this Issue SATURDAY, AUGUST 3RD Editorial ..........................................................Page 2 Legal & Property Management Coalition Corner ..............................................Page 3 Considerations in Berkeley Berkeley to Remove Gendered Language.........Page 4 Berlin’s Senate Mandates Rent Freeze ............Page 5 Come learn about the importance of Oakland to Require Section 8 Consideration ..Page 6 legal considerations & how best to Housing Crisis: 8 Astonishing Numbers .........Page 7 manage your property Local Rent Controls Coming to More Cities ....Page 8 Quote of the Month .........................................Page 8 ST JOHN’S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Monthly Meeting Info .....................................Page 9 2727 COLLEGE AVENUE IN BERKELEY 94705 Special Meeting for NEW MEMBERS! ......Page 12 SEE PAGE 9 FOR DETAILS Services & Businesses .....................................Page 13 THEY SITS BY THE FIRE NEVERMORE Albert Sukoff, Editor BPOA Monthly is a regular publication of the Berkeley likes to be the first to stir the pot. First city to do this; first city to do Berkeley Property Owners Association, a trade that. Depending on your point of view, this is pioneering leadership — a service association dedicated to assisting rental hous- to less enlightened world — or it is just the silliness of political iconoclasts. The ing providers with upkeep and management City added two more firsts this summer. of residential rental property and coping with Berkeley’s rent law. The Berkeley City Council has passed an Ordinance to rework the Municipal 2019 Code so as to make it gender-neutral. (See article on page four in this issue of Board of Directors the newsletter.) With all due respect to those effected by gender-specific labels, Kathy Snowden, President and acknowledging the power of language, this is a roll-your-eyes moment. It is Sid Lakireddy, Treasurer PC over the top. It will create confusion as it assumes changes to the language Jon Vicars, Vice President which are not universally or commonly recognized. George Soengen Richard Genirberg, Secretary Hubris aside, the Berkeley City Council is not the English counterpart to the Jim Smith Academie francaise which has been the official body governing French since Will Flynn 1635. The Council has decided that they and them are the gender-neutral ver- Paul Tuleja sions of he and she and him and her. This would be fine were it not that, in Albert Sukoff English as we know it, they/them are plural he/she and him/her are singular. It is Mark Tarses not hard to imagine not only innocuous confusion but also serious issues that Editor: could arise in the legal interpretation of the code. I remember an article from Albert Sukoff 30 years ago that suggested a less confusing tey/tem as gender-neutral singular Advisor: Michael St. John pronouns. And then there is landlord, a clear vestige of a bygone era if ever there was one. Our Office Location: We are not lords of the land, especially in regulation-laden California. We argu- 2041 Bancroft Way, Suite 203 ably do not even have the benefits of ownership explicit in the US Constitution. Berkeley, CA 94704 The term could indeed use an update. The BPOA has been using Rental Housing Phone 510.525.3666 Provider for decades. This is gender-neutral and descriptive. If it were left to Email [email protected] the Rent Board to pick a term, we would probably become Heartless Rapacious Website http://www.bpoa.org Capitalists. It probably doesn’t matter, however, because the rent control law is a Office Hours: voter-passed measure and cannot be changed by the Council or the Rent Board Open Monday – Friday, with dedicated one- without submitting the changes to the voters. on-one appointments for your convenience. The other first-of-its-kind measure passed by the Berkeley City Council is to ban natural gas starting January 1, 2020. Twenty years ago, the ecologically About the Newsletter preferred home heating fuel in this climate was, yes, natural gas. Anything that Our articles are contributed on a volunteer generates heat — stoves, furnaces, etc. — uses a lot of electricity and gas was basis by members and other interested parties, although we do accept paid advertising. We then considered the preferable fuel. Whether or not electricity should really be are always happy to include material submit- the preferred power source depends of course on the source of the power. Same ted by members and welcome suggestions on with electric cars. Good idea if the electricity comes from benign generation how to improve our publication. processes; not so much if it comes from dirty plants. Several years ago, the City All articles in this publication represent the banned all wood-burning fireplaces. Now one can no longer install gas fireplac- author’s viewpoint and not necessarily the es. The combination of these two prohibitions: no more fireplaces in Berkeley. position of our organization. One could still put a video monitor in a nicely tiled box, capped with a mantle Direct comments and material to our and then run an endless loop of a roaring fire. It’s just not quite the same. Bancroft Way office or to [email protected] The point here is not that Berkeley should or should not pass groundbreaking laws, be they worthy or silly. The point is that neither Berkeley nor its kindred cities should be passing legislation the purpose of which goes way beyond the continued on page 10 AUGUST 2019 2 BPOA MONTHLY By Krista Gulbransen, Executive Director The Berkeley Rental Housing Coalition (BRHC) is the political and legal voice of Berkeley’s rental housing providers. As the Berkeley Rental Housing Coalition celebrates its fourth us this is more than fixing a problem, it’s a preventative mea- year of existence, we wanted to give you an update on what’s sure for any owner that has their property in a Living Trust. happened policy-wise in the last year or so. Last year was Policies That “Might Have Been” quieter on the local front, because many of the housing activ- ists were hard at work trying to pass Proposition 10. But now, The “First in Time” Ordinance things are heating up once more. There is an increased focus This proposal would have required owners to rent to the on passing policies that “protect” tenants, likely in response first tenant that submitted a completed application and to not being able to repeal Costa Hawkins. Here’s a look at met the owner’s requirements. Advocates argued that it was what’s new, what could have been and what’s upcoming. the only way certain populations would have a “fair shot” at securing housing. Seattle was the first to attempt the New Policies ordinance in 2017, but after a lawsuit launched by property Rent Control and Eviction Protection Exemptions owners and the Pacific Legal Foundation, the court struck for Accessory Dwelling Units the ordinance down. Once the Ordinance was put before In the last election, we were successful in extending exemp- officials in Berkeley, we were able to point to the Seattle tions to owner-occupied parcels with an ADU. As long as an outcome, thus keeping the legislation at bay. owner of record lives in one of the units, the other unit can Policies Coming Down the Pike claim the exemptions.