At its meeting Tuesday evening, the Goleta City Council will be considering urgency and non-urgency ordinances that provide tenant protections for residential rental units.
The staff report for Tuesday’s meeting says that the ordinances are intended to protect public health, safety, and welfare, as well as prevent eviction, displacement, and homelessness.
The ordinances contain the same provisions, but the urgency ordinance would be effective immediately until it’s repealed or replaced by the non-urgency ordinance. The urgency ordinance would require at least four votes on the 5-member council.
The staff report does note that the provisions in the non-urgency ordinance can be modified before adoption.
According to recent data from the U.S. Census, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the city of Santa Barbara Rental Housing Survey, 48% of renters in Goleta are cost burdened by housing — spending more than 30% of their income on rent or other housing expenses — with 71% of cost-burdened renters being low-income.
The data also adds that, of severely cost-burdened renters — those spending more than 50% of their income on rent and utilities — 89% are low-income.
According to the data, there is a vacancy rate of less than 1%, and the median rental rate for a two-bedroom unit is $3,981.
Proposed tenant-protection regulations — along with those enacted in the city of Santa Barbara and the county of Santa Barbara — have been prompted by reports across the state of mass evictions, particularly those involving hundreds of renters in apartment complexes in Isla Vista that were bought by new owners.
Some recent statewide laws related to tenant protection include the Tenant Protection Act of 2019, which established just-cause eviction protections and rent stabilization; Senate Bill 567, which is set to go into effect in April 2024 and provides requirements for evictions related to owner/family move-in or substantial remodel; and Assembly Bill 12, which goes into effect July 1, 2024, and limits security deposits to no more than one month’s rent.
Goleta’s proposed ordinances provide even more protection than these state laws, requiring higher relocation assistance for no-fault evictions, mandatory offer of a one-year lease, mandatory right of first refusal to re-rent, and more.
The ordinance provides no-fault just causes for termination of tenancy, such as withdrawing the unit from the market, owner move-in, demolition or substantial remodel, and others.
The ordinance also requires that for eviction related to owner move-in, the owner — or owner’s spouse, domestic partner, child, grandchild, parent, or grandparent — must move in within 90 days and occupy the unit for at least 12 months.
If these conditions are not met, then the tenant must be able to move back in with the same terms and rent.
For substantial remodel, owners must first obtain all required permits and attach copies of these permits with the Notice of Termination, which will also need to include a full statement of the reason for termination, explanation why the work cannot be done with the tenant in place, and why they must vacate for more than 30 days.
Goleta’s tenant-protection ordinances also require a mandatory offer of a one-year lease, as well as mandatory right of first refusal — which means that tenants must be invited to re-rent the unit after a substantial remodel at a price of no more than the previous rent plus 5% and the consumer price index, or 10%.
These ordinances will be discussed during the Goleta City Council meeting that will take place at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the council chambers of City Hall, 130 Cremona Drive. The meeting can also be viewed on the city’s website here or through Zoom.
More information on Goleta’s ordinances can be found in the staff report here, and information on providing public comment is available in the meeting’s agenda here.