Dear Council Members
May I voice my objection to a proposed ordinance that requires Landlords to provide extremely costly relocation assistance.
We have owned our home in Menlo and raised our family there. We have maintained this property at a high standard, but have
provided very fair rent (currently thousands under market) to our excellent and primarily long term tenants. While I applaud your
concern over affordable housing, well documented research concludes that these measures basically requiring the Landlord to
suppliment the tenants housing, backfires and has unwanted consequences. We are retirees and at some point plan to return to our
home to enjoy our grandchildren. The ominous cost of the plans currently under consideration would cause us to consider removing
our property from the market. What you’re proposing amounts to deciding that Landlords should supplement a tenants housing costs
at their own expense. Other investments would make retaining the property under rent, unviable for retirees. I love our home and
our tenants. We treat each other with respect and care for this home.
Please look into the research on unintended consequences of Rent Control and actions such as Forced Relocation Assistance. It
backfires.
I am aware of an owner of several apartment buildings in SF, sheremoved her apartments from the market a few years ago, rather
than deal with the legal hassles of rent control. I am horrified that they have been sitting empty now for a few years! Your
actions are victimizing the Landlords. Most of us are NOT the problem and these proposed actions only exacerbate the problem,
making it worse instead of better. Please understand that such actions will force most retiree owners to remove their properties
from the rental market. We are dependent upon the rent to pay our mortgage, your actions tip this model out of balance putting the
Landlords at financial risk.
I understand that the answer to the housing dilemma is to build more housing and to increase BART transportation. This would
relieve pressure on the ever increasing density. Inthemeantime, perhaps providing government and corporate supplements to tenants
to offset the housing market might be an interim option until more housing can be built and BART expanded.
Thank you for your consideration. As a long term homeowner and taxpayer, I hope that you will understand that taking the above
actions sounds well intended, but the consequences are profoundly negative and have the opposite results.
Warm Regards,
Suzanne and Herman Karl
