Referendum challenging Concord rent stabilization, just cause ordinance fails without enough signatures
Concord's new housing policies will take effect April 19.
The city of Concord will officially implement new rent stabilization and just cause for eviction laws Friday — 41 days after a group of residents attempted to require that voters weigh in on November ballots.
In February, the Concord City Council approved a tenant protections ordinance that increased “just cause” eviction protections to most of the city’s tenants and established rent stabilization for roughly half its rental stock — intended to help ease the anxieties and financial hardships renters face when being pushed out of housing.
Within three days of the ordinance’s adoption, however, Jo Sciarroni, a real estate broker and property manager who has lived in Concord for decades, submitted a referendum petition to the city clerk March 8, requesting that voters be allowed to weigh in during the November general election.
That referendum petition was withdrawn Thursday, after organizers informed city staff that they would not be able to gather the required 7,204 signatures by the April 18 deadline.
As a result, the ordinance will go into effect Friday — putting to bed an effort that’s been underway since 2016, including seven marathon meetings and dozens of hours of public comment since January 2023.
The rules dictating what landlords can and cannot do — as well as how renters can respond — are complex and are not applied in the same way across all homes. (The full 30-page ordinance and broad summaries are posted on www.cityofconcord.org.)
For example, the new rules cap rent increases for multifamily rental units built before February 1, 1995, at 3% or 60% of the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower. Additionally, landlords would be required to pay relocation assistance for “no-fault” evictions of most rental units in Concord; for single-family homes and condos, that sum is equal to two months of the tenant’s current rent, plus a $2,000 moving stipend.
Sciarroni said in March that she decided to file the petition because it was a better option than “sitting back, doing nothing and allowing four people (on the City Council) to make a decision that affects 130,000 people in Concord — tenants, landlords and property owners.”
On Thursday, Sciarroni shared the news on NextDoor, thanking everyone who participated in the “grassroots movement.”
“We should continue next in November with the election of new councilmembers who will consider all Concord citizens when making (decisions) that affect your livelihood,” Sciarroni wrote. “Although we didn’t win this battle, the war is not over.”
This is a developing story, return for updates.