Increases would now be capped at 3%
A group sits at a bench along a path at Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021.
Jeff Chiu/Associated PressOakland City Council voted this week to save the city’s renters from a record-setting rent hike. The amendment to the city’s rent control ordinance will cap increases at 3%, instead of the 6.7% increase that was possible July 1, the San Francisco Business Times reported.
This applies to rent-controlled units only, which includes multiunit rental properties built before Jan. 1, 1983. Single-family homes or duplexes with an owner-occupied unit are exempt from the ordinance.
Oakland’s Rent Adjustment Program calculates the allowable increases using the average of two consumer price indices (CPI), both of which have risen more than 5% between February 2021 and February 2022 in step with rising nationwide inflation. Raising rents by 100% of these averages, as currently allowed by the ordinance, would have meant the highest allowable rental increase in more than 20 years, according to city data.
Now, the rent growth will be based on just a portion of the CPI. This calculation will bring Oakland more in line with what happens in both San Francisco and Berkeley, which allow annual increases of 60% and 65% of CPI respectively.
After more than two and a half hours of public comment, councilmembers approved the modification 6-1 Tuesday, with one member abstaining. The council will hold another meeting June 7 and the increase would go into effect Aug. 1.
