Imperial Beach on Wednesday became the third San Diego County city to adopt new rules aimed at shielding tenants from eviction when landlords undertake major remodeling projects.
At a City Council meeting packed with tenants, landlords and housing advocates, the Council voted 3-2 to go beyond existing state law by narrowing the definition of remodeling projects that justify eviction and increasing the amount landlords must pay to help evicted tenants find a new home.
Mayor Paloma Aguirre and Councilmembers Jack Fisher and Matthew Leyba-Gonzalez supported the measure. Councilmembers Mitch McKay and Carol Seabury voted no.
In recent years, both San Diego and Chula Vista have adopted similar ordinances. City Councilmembers in National City have expressed interest in such rules but have not yet moved to enact them. The efforts to protect tenants come as housing prices rise in even once-affordable cities in South San Diego County—a further sign of the San Diego region’s ongoing housing crisis.
“The housing market in this city and county is absolutely insane,” said Councilmember Fisher.
The effort to protect tenants was prompted in part by recent threats of mass eviction at two large apartment complexes just blocks from City Hall. Residents of both complexes received eviction notices in recent months after separate property investors bought each complex and sought to force out tenants to make way for remodeling projects.
Residents of the 64-unit Hawaiian Gardens complex have until the end of this month to vacate. Residents of the neighboring Sussex Gardens complex—renamed “The Swell” by the complex’s new owner—have until March.
Residents of both complexes, with the help of the community organizing group ACCE, first began attending City Council meetings last year to plead for help. Dozens attended Wednesday’s Council meeting to share emotional stories of what they faced as eviction deadlines drew near.
“At the end of this month, I’ll be living in my car,” said Hawaiian Gardens resident Philip Del Rio. “I can’t afford any rentals. I looked.”
“Where is the empathy? Treat us like humans,” said Sussex Gardens resident Iris Guevara. “Remodeling should not be a reason to evict anyone.”
State law permits landlords to evict tenants when remodeling projects are too substantial to be completed while tenants live in the unit. Though the law requires landlords to provide copies of construction permits to prove the extent of projects, housing activists contend the remodeling provision creates a loophole landlords can use to evade state rent increase limits. Landlords, activists say, evict tenants, make cosmetic improvements then return units to the market at substantially higher rents.
The Imperial Beach ordinance seeks to tighten that loophole by narrowing the definition of “substantial remodel” to exclude “painting, decorating, floor replacement” and “other work that can be performed safely without having the residential unit vacated.”
Both landlords and tenants expressed disappointment with the new ordinance. Landlords, including John Hine, the new owner of The Swell, warned Councilmembers on Wednesday that the law would saddle property owners with excessive costs and discourage investment.
“This will have significant negative effects on values, taxes and properties,” Hine said in prepared remarks to the Council.
Tenants said the law doesn’t go far enough. Because the law will not take effect for at least two months, it will not shield residents of Hawaiian Gardens or Sussex Gardens from eviction. Housing activists at the meeting urged Councilmembers to ban remodeling evictions altogether.
“We asked for a meal. You’re giving us crumbs,” said Del Rio. “This is not right.”
Councilmembers themselves appeared conflicted. Though Seabury voted against the ordinance, she said “my heart breaks” to hear of tenants’ struggles. “This is so depressing to know these people have such a bleak future ahead of them,” she said.
Aguirre said she was “proud of” the ordinance but acknowledged it didn’t go as far as tenants had hoped. “I’m sorry we couldn’t help you,” she said to tenants who attended the meeting. “We went as far as we could.”
The new law is expected to take effect in March. Hawaiian Gardens resident Susan Vanderlinden said on Wednesday that was too late for her. Using a walker to exit the City Council meeting, Vanderlinden, 68, said her income from Social Security was too low to afford prevailing rents in Imperial Beach.
In a week, she said, her son would pick her up from the apartment where she’s lived for the past eight and a half years and take her to Arizona, where she would live in a spare bedroom in her son’s condominium. “If that didn’t happen, I’d be on the street,” she said.
“I’m really disappointed,” she said. “We really fought for help and thought [the City Council] was on our side…It’s sad.”
What “housing crisis”? There are 16 brand new vacant apartments at F and 24th.
The government doesn’t own the rental properties, they should have zero control over what the actual owners can or can’t do. This is America for Christ sakes.
If these MARXISTS keep up this government overreach, they will leave apartment owners with no other option than to let their properties decay to the point the units must be completely torn down to the bare earth, and rebuilt, to get around the increasingly-strict prohibitions on remodeling.
How about protecting landlords from abusive tenants that don’t pay rent, trash the place …. even when you tried working with them ….. it has taken 3 years to get one set of squatters out, close to two years on two others (admittedly C-19 interfered on one, but they had the money, especially as we offered reduced rent with the rest ‘forgiven’)
Mortgage payments, Property insurance, property taxes, other property services such as trash, water, property power and maintenance don’t stop
So it’s ok for tenants to pile up 10s of thousands in past due rent spendig it friviously
I get some form of rent increase restriction on current tenants — not in transitions are rent control historically means no building, therefore a housing shortage
I understand blocking ‘no cause’ evictions to raise rents … at no cause rents cannot be increased … but if tenant leaves market value becomes fair rent
I am also 100% for going after ‘slum lords’
But all these attempts just make things worse and not better
DMJ EQUITY LLC the one’s that came in to my apartment complex and did the same thing but they called themselves DMJ HELIX SQUARE. Same people and Grandview Management Partners is the one’s that are managing the property. They get rid of all low income, elderly, disabled and people on section 8 and only give you your portion of the rent and keep the other half that section 8 pays. It doesn’t matter if you have been there for 15+ years. All so they can supposedly do renovations. I speak from experience because I lived at Helix Square in Spring Valley and never had a problem with my previous landlords and managers until they bought the complex and started to do the same thing to people that have been there for years. The manager John Hine doesn’t even have a license to be a manager and in CA you have to especially when you expect rent money orders and make out leases. They gave me a 90 day Termination at no fault of mine because they wanted to remodel and my old apartment is still empty and they haven’t remodeled it yet. I also went to a different apartment complex to try and get an apartment I put a deposit down for the apartment and the next day that manager called and told me that my old manager basically bad mothed me and I could come and pick up my deposit because I wasn’t the right fit for there apartment complex. They even gave me a letter saying it was rental history. When I lived at my old apartment complex for over 15+years.