Sebastopol extends rent-hike cap

The Sebastopol City Council has extended for six months a temporary 3 percent cap on rent hikes for qualifying dwellings, saying it hopes to prevent rate spikes while considering whether to adopt some kind of longer-term tenant protections.

The 4-0 vote came late Tuesday night after a long line of speakers, both for and against the measure, warned of unintended consequences that could further squeeze a market in which many renters, like those elsewhere in the Greater Bay Area, pay more than they can really afford for housing, or have been priced out altogether.

Despite the unknowns, and concerns about the large number of rentals exempt from the rate cap by state law, city leaders said they wanted to protect vulnerable renters from predatory pricing prompted by fears of potential rent control measures in the future.

“We have people in a landlord-tenant relationship, and the people at-risk in that situation are the tenants,” Councilwoman Sarah Glade Gurney said. “They’re the vulnerable people.”

The measure extends a 45-day urgency ordinance adopted Nov. 1 to prevent landlords from raising base rents in anticipation that the council may next year adopt rent control measures limiting rate increases long term. The earlier vote followed several days in which property owners, aware rent control was on the council agenda, notified tenants their rents were going up.

But no one is yet sure how many dwelling units will be subject to the so-called moratorium, as state law exempts all housing cleared of occupancy after February 1995, as well as single-family homes and individually owned condominiums, and government subsidized units. The result is that only a small number of Sebastopol rental units are likely to be affected, potentially driving up rates for other units, landlords and their representatives told the council.

Tuesday’s unanimous vote was supported by newly elected Councilwoman Neysa Hinton, as well as Gurney, new Mayor Una Glass and Vice Mayor Patrick Slayter, who was the lone dissenting voice Nov. 1.

Newly seated Councilman Michael Carnacchi, who rents a unit that would be affected, recused himself from the vote.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. ?On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.