Publication Date: Friday Oct 17, 1997

HOUSING <*C>: Palo Alto

In the wake of the governor's veto of a state bill to protect renters, the Palo Alto City Council has started the process to pass a law that would require landlords to give tenants on leases 60-day notices of any changes to lease terms, including rent increases.

The council's Police and Services Committee voted unanimously Tuesday night to direct City Attorney Ariel Calonne to draft such a law for consideration by the committee, which would then send it on to the full council for consideration.

The proposed ordinance would apply to tenants on one-year leases but not those on month-to-month rental agreements. Cities are preempted, by legal precedent, from passing laws affecting month-to-month rental agreements, Calonne said.

Action by the policy committee came less than a week after Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed a bill by state Sen. Byron Sher, D-Redwood City, which would have done the same thing. Palo Alto had asked Sher to sponsor the state legislation.

The policy committee also wants to consider other renter protection measures, including an increase in funding for rental housing mediation efforts.

The policy committee, along with the city's Human Relations Commission, has been motivated by a continuing trend of steep rent increases that have led many low- and moderate-income residents to move out of Palo Alto.

"Palo Alto has always taken pride in the economic diversity of its population," said Council member Lanie Wheeler. "We are losing this fight."

"If rents keep going up, people will have to move out of the area or, in the worst-case scenario, they will become homeless," said Human Relations Commission member Adele Khabbaz.

But the 60-day ordinance, if passed by the city, could face a quick legal challenge.

Kathryn Thibodeaux, government relations director for the Tri-County Apartment Association, urged the policy committee to not pursue a 60-day ordinance.

Tri-County had backed Sher's bill as statewide legislation, but it would opposed a local law for the legal precedent it would set, Thibodeaux said.

"Would you sue us?" asked Council member Ron Andersen.

"I'm not prepared to say," Thibodeaux said, "but that's the way the wind is blowing."

In directing Calonne to draw up a 60-day lease change ordinance, Council member Jean McCown said, "I'm particularly offended that the governor didn't see the wisdom of our relatively modest bill."

There was no immediate word on when the policy committee will next deliberate the rental protection measures.



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