Renters Relief & Homeowners Protection Act

Rental Housing Providers Announce Submittal of Signatures for Ballot Initiative

4,359 City of Berkeley Registered Voter Signatures Turned In

BERKELEY, Calif., April 25, 2024—The Berkeley Rental Housing Coalition, an association of rental housing providers, announced today that it submitted signatures on its petition to qualify a measure for the November ballot that would provide funding for a permanent rent relief program in the city to assist tenants struggling to pay their rent.                                                                         

In order to qualify, the campaign must collect and submit signatures of City of Berkeley registered voters. The campaign submitted 4,359 signatures in total – well over the required number of 2,895 to qualify.

“The voters have spoken. They believe Berkeley renters and rental housing providers need a permanent rent relief fund that will help serve those in need of rental assistance” said Krista Gulbransen, executive director of the Berkeley Rental Housing Coalition. “They also recognize the importance of lessening the impact of government regulation on small rental housing providers who live on site with their tenant.”

The Renters Relief & Homeowners Protection Act seeks to update the city’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance, first adopted by voters in 1980. Under the proposal, a portion of the city’s existing annual business license tax on big landlords would create a permanent fund for renter’s relief. Estimated to provide almost $1.2m* annually, the fund will assist tenants in need of temporary rental assistance. It’s estimated a now-expired, COVID 19-era rent relief fund helped almost 1,000 people stay in their homes.

Additional reforms include protections for single-family homeowners and for duplexes where at least one owner resides on the property with their tenant. A Tenants Right to Organize provision would allow tenants of a building to organize and request to confer in good faith with the property owner for purposes of housing services and accommodations. Owners will also be required to give at least a 60-day notice for the end of a lease term in order to give a tenant time to convey their intention to renew.

The Berkeley Rental Housing Coalition (BRHC) is the political and legal arm of the long-standing Berkeley Property Owners Association. It is dedicated to promoting safe, affordable, and well-maintained residential rental housing in the city of Berkeley and works to restore fairness, efficiency, and objectivity to Berkeley’s rental housing policies. Learn more at www.bpoa.org/brhc-about

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"Berkeley Voters Could Face Competing Tenant Protection Measures in November", Vanessa Rancano, March 22, 2024, KQED