The Residential Tenant Protections Ordinance to Prevent Displacement and Homelessness will go into effect June 24.
The ordinance that passed 8-1 in April aims to provide protections to renters from eviction as long as they continue to pay rent and comply with their lease.
“The tenant protection ordinance is part and parcel a homelessness prevention effort. We are seeing an explosion of unsheltered people in our county and some of it has to do with health and some is addiction, but a lot of it is the rent is simply just too high,” Mayor Todd Gloria said.
City leaders said it is a step towards addressing both the housing and homelessness crises the city faces.
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“Passage of the tenant protection ordinance means that those folks that get a no-fault eviction are going to receive a return of two to three months’ rent and that will allow them to provide for the security deposit to be able to move into a new home,” Mayor Gloria said.
The ordinance received input from tenant’s rights advocates and the Southern California Rental Housing Association and will bring the city’s laws up to those set by the rent capping Assembly Bill 1482.
“The most important part of this law of the tenant protection ordinance is the fact that the law kicks in the first day of tenancy so if you’re moving into a new place, you’re already protected from day one. It used to be one year for the state and two years for the City of San Diego,” San Diego Tenants Union Director Rafael Bautista said.
