Santa Rosa to consider extending freeze on rent increases

The Santa Rosa City Council is holding an emergency meeting Thursday to consider extending its controversial 45-day moratorium on rent increases.

A temporary ban on rent hikes of more than 3 percent went into effect June 18 as a way to prevent landlords from raising rents while the city crafts a long-term rent control ordinance.

That ordinance, which affects about 12,000 apartments in the city, expires Aug. 6 unless it is extended. Single-family homes, condominiums, duplexes and owner-occupied triplexes are exempt.

The council will need to fast-track the extension, however, if it wants to prevent a gap in the protection for renters. That’s because a regular ordinance won’t go into effect until Aug. 11, five days after the current ordinance expires.

During those five days, there would be no moratorium in place, allowing landlords to raise rents.

To eliminate any potential gap, the council would need to adopt the extension on an urgency basis, meaning it would go into effect immediately upon approval. But that takes five votes, and the last time the council tried to impose a rent control ordinance on an expedited basis, it couldn’t get the votes.

Mayor John Sawyer, Vice Mayor Tom Schwedhelm and Councilman Ernesto Olivares have all opposed rent control efforts.

A city staff report, however, recommends the 90-day extension be passed on an urgency basis to “help avoid confusion and additional questions on the issue.”

If the council cannot muster five votes, the backup plan is for a 75-day extension requiring only four votes. It would go into effect Aug. 11.