Menlo Park City Council Members, the Menlo Almanac just reported on July 6 the passing of this ordinance:
People who favor tenant rights recently won a small victory in Menlo Park, when the City Council on June 19 unanimously and
without discussion approved a policy that prohibits landlords of properties with three or more housing units from discriminating
against renters based on their source of income, including whether they receive rent subsidies.
I urge you to IMMEDIATELY rescind this foolish, anti-free market, anti-competitive rental regulation.One of the key attributes to
successful rental property management is the ability to be selective about tenants, considering such things as the SOURCE of their
income. Someone who just receives a subsidy — of any sort — is less likely to be a responsible, rule-following tenant who takes
care of his rental unit. Empirical evidence has shown time and again that tenants with Section 8 rental vouchers are highly likely
to cause damage to their rental units, damage which far outweighs the government-subsidized rent received from them. Avoiding such
problems by turning away Section 8 applicants is a smart rental policy. But the you on the City Council apparently think
otherwise. You want to intimidate, and soon bludgeon, landlords into having to accept Section 8 tenants.
This is another nail in the coffin for residential rental property owners. Along with threats of statewide rent controls and
crushing residential rent regulation ("just eviction" rules; the end of vacancy rent decontrol), this type of micro-management of
a landlord's business diminishes the desirability of owning rental property here in Menlo Park and anywhere in California. I can
assure you that if you want to DECREASE the amount of residential rental property available in Menlo Park, and thereby further
INCREASE upward pressure on rents, the best way to it is to impose rent regulations like this one. You can NEVER improve the
rental market through tightening the regulatory noose around landlords. That has never been shown to work anywhere. Rental
ordinances like this one only make it less palatable to be a residential landlord and reduce the stock of residential rentals on
the market, particularly those aimed at middle class (as opposed to high end luxury) tenants.Think very carefully if you want
creeping rent regulation in Menlo Park, which will guarantee the demise of the rental housing stock in this city.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Mical Atz BrenzelMenlo Park resident (30 years)
