Oakland tenants in rent-controlled buildings will be paying more – a lot more – in a couple of months.
Berkeleyside reported that the six-point-seven percent increase would be the highest in almost 20 years since rent control was implemented. That’s almost double the three-point-six percent hike in rents in 2003. Last year, landlords were allowed to raise rents almost two percent.
The rent increases are pegged to the Consumer Price Index.
Mark Dias, the co-chair of the Oakland Tenants Union, told Berkeleyside that he was “astonished” at the rent increase. He said many tenants have yet to recover from the effects of the start of the pandemic.
Many landlords are in a similar predicament, trying to recover from the moratorium on evictions prompted by the COVID pandemic.
Berkeleyside also reported that the demand for Oakland’s rental assistance program has been so high that tenants are now being waitlisted.
Oaklandside reported that more than 28-hundred tenants are still awaiting COVID-related rental assistance.
