Mountain View addressing renter displacement as housing development boom continues

MOUNTAIN VIEW — As cities across the Bay Area plan on building thousands of new homes in the next decade to deal with the ongoing housing crisis, cities like Mountain View are devising new strategies to keep low-income renters in their homes or help them find a new place to live when forced out by new developments.

During housing booms, market rents rise fastest in low-income neighborhoods that are in proximity to richer neighborhoods, according to the Bay Area Equity Atlas. Many low-income communities of color, which have historically suffered economic neglect and disinvestment, are now at risk for rapidly rising rents due to gentrification.

While Richmond and Mountain View have both recently passed rent control measures, and San Jose approved a list of 10 anti-displacement strategies it wants to implement in the coming years, a large part of Bay Area renters remain unprotected, and existing controls do not limit rent increases between tenancies or cover newer homes.

That’s why Mountain View city officials are taking on a month-long discussion with renters, landlords and developers to address the ongoing threat of displacement as old apartments give way to new ones.

“There may be situations where we can have policies or programs to prevent displacement, there may be some situations where it cannot be prevented,” Assistant Community Development Director Wayne Chen said during a recent community meeting. “So that’s why this is called a displacement response strategy, it’s to prevent (displacement) but also to reduce the impact of displacement so people don’t have to lose their homes.”

Since 2012, city staff estimates that over 1,000 rent-controlled units have been demolished to give way to new construction of mostly market-rate apartments, displacing hundreds of families who struggled to find a new place in one of the region’s most expensive areas to live.

In 2019, the city council for the first time made renter displacement a high priority, and after two study sessions held in Oct. 2019 and Sept. 2020, the city is forging ahead with talks to come up with strategies the council will consider at the start of the summer.

The first two discussions scheduled for Wednesday afternoon will focus on property owners and nonprofit developers. On Jan. 19, city officials will hold discussions with market-rate developers, and on Jan. 25 and Jan. 26 tenants will be invited to give their perspectives. A final general community meeting is scheduled for Feb. 21 to summarize all public input from previous meetings before it goes to the city council.

“We can’t do it alone, so partnerships are very important,” Chen said. “To the extent possible we want to keep people in the homes they’re in and if not then keep residents in Mountain View somewhere in the city or if that’s not possible then somewhere close to the city. It’s a unit and place-based strategy.”

Right now Mountain View has some of the best tenant protections of any city in the Bay Area. The city passed a rent-control law in 2016 and extended it to mobile homes in 2022, and throughout specific development projects, it has worked to make sure renters have a place to go or assistance to relocate.

The city has just-cause eviction protections, rent control, rental assistance programs, and a Housing and Eviction Help Center to keep residents in their homes. It also recently passed a Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance and has approved new affordable units to reduce the impact of displacement.

But former Mayor Lenny Siegel and other tenant advocates and housing justice activists believe the city can do more to protect renters.

Siegel said he’s glad that these discussions are taking place now since some state protections are set to expire soon and could use some local backing too. For example, SB 330 — which requires rent-stabilized units be prepared with deed-restricted affordable ones based on the former tenant’s income — is set to sunset in 2030. And the Ellis Act, which allows demolished rent-controlled units to be replaced with “new” rent-controlled units could be bolstered by a city mandate.

Siegel said in an interview Monday that he hopes the council will “establish city policies that are more permanent and that would help as a guide to developers who are thinking of redeveloping parts of the city, especially mobile home parks.”

Siegel said another strategy could be requiring that developers keep units open as tenants move out before construction begins, allowing tenants more time to find new places to live and preventing landlords from renting units on a short-term basis which could also lead to displacement.

“There’s a calculation there, obviously, so that you don’t lose too much money by holding apartments open while trying to get approval for your development, but that’s the way they can get around having to provide assistance to people,” Siegel said.

Also, if there’s a legal way to do it, Siegel said the city should have a “very high bar” for how many affordable units are included in a project that tears down rent-controlled apartments.

“Make it really difficult for it to happen,” Siegel said. “Or have rent-controlled apartments with affordable deed-restricted units given to displaced folks to continue living at rent-control levels in comparable apartments.

But Siegel said the council’s ultimate decision will depend on who replaces Sally Lieber — who was recently elected in 2022 to the State Board of Equalization —  on the council. After much debate, the council ultimately decided earlier this month to appoint a new member to the body instead of holding a special election. The council’s current progressive makeup means they could choose someone who supports the kinds of ideas Siegel is proposing.

“It all depends on the new council member,” he said.