Residents in an Alameda apartment complex were told to move just days after city leaders approved a moratorium on rent increases of 8% or higher and a stop to "no cause" evictions.
The city council unanimously voted Nov. 4 for a 65-day moratorium in response to rising rents and evictions in a tight Bay Area housing market. City staff also will strengthen the city's Rent Review Advisory Committee, reports the San Jose Mercury News. That vote followed a more than seven-hour meeting where two people were arrested, including one who assaulted the city's public works director, leaving him with a broken hip.
On Nov. 7, residents at the 33-unit Bayview Apartments at 470 Central Ave learned they had to leave by Jan. 8—a deadline that was later pushed back to Jan. 11. The later date would fall after the 65-day moratorium. Tenants said the owner told them work needs to be done on the more than 14k SF, two-story building, built in 1959. A spokeswoman with the Alameda Renters Coalition called that a "smoke-screen for evictions" in pursuit of higher market rates. [SJMN]
