Over the past few months, the City, Rent Board, and Planning Commision have been working diligently to craft amendments to the City’s rules on demolishing residential buildings that would protect tenants’ rights and preserve rent control while allowing for new development to take place. The final proposal brought to Council by the Planning Commission strikes the right balance and has my support.

However, at the last minute ahead of tomorrow’s Berkeley City Council meeting, Councilmembers Kesarwani and Humbert have brought forward amendments to the Demolition Ordinance that would significantly reduce tenant protections in existing units and decrease affordability in developments that are created from the demolition of rent controlled housing.

This is not acceptable, especially when the two Council seats representing the highest proportion of tenants in the City are vacant. You can take action to prevent these changes from passing! Email the City Council to tell them to (1) oppose these amendments that weaken tenant protections and undermine community affordability and (2) wait until after the Districts 4 and 7 special elections before voting on them so that all Berkeley residents, especially tenants who will be most affected, can be represented in the vote.