The Mountain View City Council will make changes to their tenant relocation ordinance in order to increase benefits to low-income residents.
The council made a unanimous vote during the Oct. 28 city council meeting to direct staff to make additional changes to the tenant relocation assistance rules (TRAO) and return for a first reading and vote. The council is tentatively set to review the items for a first reading of the ordinance amendment during its Dec. 9 meeting.
“I think we’ve undertaken an effort as council to try and reduce housing costs to the extent that we can,” said Councilmember Chris Clark. “We also need to think about the other costs we are passing on.”
The TRAO is a local ordinance that requires relocation benefits to households of a certain income that are displaced from rental units, such as those covered by the city’s rent control. The ordinance specifies the amount of benefits renters can receive and requirements for landlords if they displace tenants, among other requirements.
The new amendments will prospectively increase benefits for tenants under the ordinance. The city plans to use a new metric to classify tenants according to their income and the area median income, with low-income individuals being provided new and expanded funding from the city. Moving costs, covered by a landlord, would have a 50-mile limit.
The changes also include right of first refusal for tenants, new noticing requirements and a new section on temporary displacement.
The item is a program within the 2023-2031 Housing Element, a city planning document guiding the development of new housing during the time period. The council held study sessions in November and December of 2024 on the tenant relocation assistance.
The updated TRAO will take effect 30 days after the second reading. Mountain View must develop more than 11,000 new units over the time period of the housing element.
Tenant relocation funding is in part provided to the city via SB 330, or the Housing Crisis Act of 2012.
Councilmember Alison Hicks noted that the city had some restrictions on how much, and to whom, tenant relocation could be provided due to the state guidelines.
“There’s a number of things we want flexibility on. We’re incorporating them after stakeholder input into the administrative guidelines,” Hicks said.
