Protect Homeowners and ADUs
Oakland City Council and Mayor Libby Schaaf
This coming Monday, July 11th, the Oakland City Council considers new eviction restrictions on ADUs.
These changes will stop ADUs from being built-–taking away one of the few solutions helping families deal with high housing costs and aging challenges.
Imposing eviction controls and tenant relocation costs on homeowners with ADUs will increase fear and uncertainty and add cost burdens that the most vulnerable homeowners can’t risk. Please join your voice to our petition to exempt ADUs where the owner lives on site from the eviction restrictions. Thank you!Celeste Goyer, Policy Director
Tom Limon, Executive Director
Denise Pinkston, Board President
casitacoalition.org
Petition by
To:
Oakland City Council and Mayor Libby Schaaf
From:
[Your Name]
Re: Proposed Amendment to Pending Just Cause Ballot Initiative Regarding ADUs in Oakland’s just cause ballot measure
Dear Mayor and Council:
I write to express concern that ADUs have been included in Oakland’s eviction protection ballot measure.
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 the willingness of a homeowner to undertake the considerable time and expense of building an ADU. Imposing eviction controls on ADUs that subject homeowners to a regulatory process and relocation costs for their tenant will keep new ADUs and JADUs from being built at all. This will stop widespread new ADU construction in Oakland just as it is getting going.
Given the dire dimensions of ongoing housing crisis, ADUs and JADUs are the only naturally and consistently below market rate source of homes being built in most neighborhoods in our state. By being built and rented in areas where home prices exclude all but the very wealthy, ADUs create inclusion and income diversity in otherwise exclusive neighborhoods. The Oakland housing element identifies ADUs as affordable in Oakland WITHOUT added rent or tenant protections.
I strongly recommend that the current language be modified to exempt owner-occupied homes from coming under the eviction protection language.
‘...except for owner-occupied properties where the owner's primary residence is in the ADU, vehicular ADU, JADU, or primary unit. To qualify for owner-occupancy the primary residents must collectively own at least 50% of the financial interest in the property as evidenced by an owner affadavit.’
If the measure were to pass in its current form, it would greatly diminish the number of ADU/JADUs that are built in Oakland--which hurts tenants who badly need rental housing options in all Oakland neighborhoods--and will limit the diversity of households who will share all Oakland neighborhoods in the future.
Thank you.