Salinas City Council votes 5-2 in favor of rescinding four renter-protection ordinances.

On Tuesday, April 22, Salinas City Council voted 5-2 in support of steps to rescind four ordinances, including Monterey County’s first rent stabilization measure. Councilmembers Andrew Sandoval and Tony Barrera, who are the only remaining members of council from 2023 and 2024 who voted in support of the policy last year, cast the two dissenting votes.

The vote on April 22 was not binding, but directs city staff to bring a formal ordinance to council that will rescind four ordinances following up on a request to do so in March. The council is expected to take a formal vote on Tuesday, May 13.

The council moved to revoke a suite of three passed last fall: a tenant anti-harassment ordinance; a just cause eviction ordinance requiring landlords to provide three months’ relocation assistance in the event of a no-fault eviction; and rent stabilization, capping annual rent increases at 2.75 percent for units in buildings built before 1995. The fourth was a residential rental registry approved by council in 2022 that took effect May 4, 2023.

The registry requires property owners to list their rental properties with the city and pay a fee of $45 for units built after 1995 and not subject to the rent control ordinance, and $170 per rent-stabilized unit.

As of April 14, city housing staff reported that 50 percent of suspected rental units – 10,963 units – have been registered. Of those, two-thirds (7,317) are rent stabilized.

Real estate broker Mike Handley of Town ‘N Country was one of many voices in support of revocation. “You cannot legislate affordability,” he said. “These types of policies, while well intentioned, tend to backfire.”

In addition to the revocations, City Council also voted to pursue a potential rental assistance program to help struggling renters, dozens of whom addressed the council on April 22, as well as to provide monthly reports on new construction to improve accountability on increasing housing supply.

Boosting supply was a primary motivation several councilmembers gave in explaining their votes. “We need to work on the supply side,” Councilmember Jose Luis Barajas said. “Other jurisdictions have helped stabilize rents by increasing supply. That’s simply economics. Emotion aside, the data tells us we need to focus on building.”

Organizers in a coalition that led the charge on rent stabilization over the course of two-plus years – from groups like Building Healthy Communities, Center for Community Advocacy, and others – plan to meet with Barajas before the vote. “He needs to hear that residents are concerned about the decision he is making,” says Joel Hernandez Laguna, executive director of CCA.

Hernandez also serves as an elected official on the board of Salinas Valley Health, and says that like a group of physicians and other health professionals who spoke out in support of rent stabilization, he sees the ordinances as a health issue. “High-cost rent is causing overcrowding,” he says. “Overcrowding is a health issue.”

Coalition members are also asking church leaders at St. Mary’s of Nativity Church in East Salinas to hold a mass in support of rent stabilization on Sunday prior to the vote.

A longer version of this story appears at montereycountynow.com