Protect Berkeley Homeowners and ADUs
Berkeley City Council
An important housing option for Berkeley residents is at risk! Can you help us save ADUs?
On Tuesday July 12th, the Berkeley City Council will consider a ballot measure to remove the existing exemptions for ADUs and certain duplexes from tenant eviction restrictions.
Imposing tenant eviction restrictions on ADUs will stop ADUs from being built, removing one of the few solutions helping families deal with high housing costs and aging challenges.
Imposing eviction controls on homeowners with ADUs will increase fear and uncertainty and will add cost burdens that homeowners, particularly low- or fixed-income, can’t risk. Please add your voice to our petition to exempt owner-occupied ADUs and certain duplexes from tenant eviction restrictions. Thank you!
Celeste Goyer, Policy Director
Tom Limon, Executive Director
casitacoalition.org
Petition by
To:
Berkeley City Council
From:
[Your Name]
To: Members of the Berkeley City Council
Re: Proposed amendments to remove existing ADU exemptions from Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization and Eviction for Just Cause Ordinance.
Item 20 of the July 12, 2022, Council Meeting
Dear members of the Berkeley City Council,
I encourage you to oppose efforts to remove the current ADU exemption from the Berkeley Rent Stabilization and Eviction for Good Cause Ordinance. Ensuring homeowners have the fewest barriers in deciding whether to build an ADU is vital to the creation of more affordable housing units in the City of Berkeley.
Just four years ago this city council approved a measure exempting ADUs from eviction controls. This was done with the understanding that ADUs are a unique form of housing – almost a form of shared housing – where the ability of the homeowner to decide who lives where and when is a critical part of their willingness to undertake building an ADU.
Imposing eviction controls on ADUs will subject homeowners to new regulatory and legal requirements that will increase the cost and risk of renting an ADU, thereby threatening their families’ financial security and peace of mind. Loss of these exemptions will not only stop homeowners from building new ADUs, but will also motivate homeowners who currently rent ADUs to remove their ADUs from the rental market.
Given the dire dimensions of the ongoing housing crisis, ADUs and JADUs are the only homes being built that routinely have below-market rents, and that provide new rental units in neighborhoods where home prices exclude all but the very wealthy. ADUs create inclusion and income diversity in otherwise exclusive neighborhoods.
I strongly encourage you to maintain the current Berkeley exemptions for owner-occupied ADUS and certain duplexes. All you must do is simply remove the proposed changes to Section 13.76.050 Paragraph F (exemptions of certain duplexes) and paragraph N (exemption of ADUs).
If the measure were to pass in its current form, it would greatly diminish the number of ADUs built and the number of existing ADUs available to rent. Please vote against these amendments.
Thank you.