Officials in Santa Clara County want to expand tenant protections in unincorporated areas. They aim to strengthen a law that requires landlords to pay to relocate evicted tenants.
The Board of Supervisors are discussing changes to a relocation assistance policy that would also be updated to protect tenants against unreasonable evictions.
The current policy dates back to 1993, but lacks effective enforcement measures. The county discovered the problem after being called to provide emergency services for displaced tenants who should have received landlord relocation money, but didn't.
The changes would apply to renters living in single-family homes or duplexes. Single-family homes account for the largest percentage of rentals in Santa Clara County's unincorporated pockets. And about 30% of the housing in those areas are occupied by renters.
Huascar Castro is the Housing and Transportation Director for the Silicon Valley advocacy group, Working Partnerships USA. Castro said the policies would help stabilize housing.
HUASCAR CASTRO: We have a lot of data that shows there are neighborhoods throughout the county that are either at risk of displacement or experiencing displacement and/or gentrification, and so these are really crucial policy solutions that are going to help that.
Opponents to the proposed changes include the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors. Enrique Navarro-Donnellan spoke on behalf of the association at a May committee meeting. He said that more rules and regulations will discourage investment.
The next committee meeting is on Sept. 3 to look at expanding the current policy.