Two Oceanside councilmembers said Monday they will push for what they called “urgency ordinances” to provide more housing stability for renters.
Councilmembers Eric Joyce and Jimmy Figueroa said at a City Hall news conference that their proposal would limit most rent increases to a 5% maximum, establish “no fault” eviction protections, increase legal services for tenants and more.
“Everyone deserves a stable home,” Joyce said, adding that the proposals would protect Oceanside’s most vulnerable populations such as the elderly and young workers struggling to pay the region’s high housing costs.
Figueroa said that as renters he and his family understand the need for tenant protections.
“My wife and I live paycheck to paycheck, just like so many of you,” he said to about 30 to 40 people under drizzling skies at the Civic Center plaza. “We worry about what might happen if something goes wrong.”
The proposal is likely to be opposed by landlords, developers and property owners.
Former Oceanside Councilmember Chuck Lowery called it “a bizarre plan to punish small rental property owners to pay for housing.”
“This is a total distraction from where resources need to be directed,” Lowery said in an email Tuesday. “Some hard-working residents choose not to count on a cushy pension plan at the expense of others and have instead invested in quality affordable housing for seniors.
“City Council does not need to push more punitive rules on locals to benefit personal legacy programs and political campaign strategies,” he said.
Speakers at the news conference supported the proposals, which are tentatively on the City Council’s April 9 agenda and are likely to draw a crowd.
“Many of our congregants are wrestling with these same situations,” said Jason Coker, a pastor at the Oceanside Sanctuary church. “We see a housing crisis.”
High housing costs, unpredictable rent increases and the ever-present threat of eviction make all renters vulnerable, he said, and the city has “a moral imperative” to protect its residents.
Todd Walters, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, said many of the union’s 12,000 members in San Diego and Imperial counties work two or three jobs just to pay their bills. Many workers must endure long commutes between their jobs and places they can afford to live.
“This is not sustainable,” Walters said. “We need to keep the American dream attainable for young people.”
The community has a responsibility to ensure stable and affordable housing for its residents, he said.
A home should be a foundation and not a source of stress, said Lanae Branch, an Oceanside High School junior.
Her grandfather spent his final years homeless and ill because he couldn’t afford rent or health care, she said.
“Housing isn’t just a policy issue,” Branch said. “It’s a life and death issue.”
The proposal is intended to strengthen and expand the state’s Tenant Protection Act of 2019, also known as AB 1482.
The city of San Diego approved additional renter protections in 2023 that included limits on no-fault evictions such as requiring a landlord to provide the tenant relocation assistance along with two months’ rent.
Imperial Beach adopted similar protections earlier this year. A provision of the new law there prohibited evictions for some renovation projects as “substantial remodels.”
