Marina City Council raises rents at city-owned housing complexes, and opens the door for more.

That the rents would go up by 3 percent for market-rate tenants at Marina’s city-owned townhome complexes – Abrams Park and Preston Park, 548 units of U.S. Army-built housing on the former Fort Ord – was not in question when the Marina City Council voted 5-0 on July 18 to accept new budgets for both developments for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. What is now in question is what the council will do about the gap between long-term residents whose increases have been capped at 3 percent since 2010 and newer residents paying the current market rate.

The unanswered question – barely discussed during the meeting because it wasn’t on the agenda – has left longtime residents nervous that their rents could rise significantly to close the gap.

“If rents were increased we would not be able to live here,” said Sarah Blake, a former middle school teacher who said she is staying at home with a new baby because she and her husband can’t afford child care.

Per a city ordinance adopted in 2010, annual rent increases for market-rate tenants are capped at 3 percent or by the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower. (The complexes also include units for very-low and low-income families by deed restriction; those rents depend on federal calculations. Some market-rate units are leased to tenants with federal Housing Choice Vouchers, formerly known as Section 8. )

As tenants move out of market-rate apartments, the rents are increased to the most recent market-rate levels. According to a report to council by its property management company, Greystar Residential, current market rates range from $2,350 for two-bedroom units per month up to $3,450 for four-bedroom units, depending on whether they’ve been remodeled.

For in-place tenants, the average rent for a two-bedroom unit is currently $1,604 per month at Abrams Park and $1,716 at Preston Park. Average rent for four bedrooms in Abrams Park is $2,279; three-bedrooms at Preston Park average $2,242.

The gap has left some asking if long-term residents should pay more. One leader of a tenants association, Paula Pelot, told council that reasons for the disparity include the fact that units are updated as they’re turned over – some long-term residents said they’ve had the same carpets and appliances for 13 years – and that the city did not control rent increases on vacant units. Mayor Bruce Delgado said he has “a lot of interest” in discussing the gap at a future meeting – possibly in August – leaving the question of raising long-term tenants’ rents open until then.

Delgado said that when the city purchased the properties through transactions with the Fort Ord Reuse Authority (Abrams Park in 1996, Preston Park in 2016), the goal was to provide affordable housing as well as revenue to the city. He estimated the city had netted approximately $45 million since 1996.

“We wanted to keep them in city ownership so we could continue providing good housing for salt-of-the-earth, working-class people and have a revenue stream,” he said.