WELCOME

A LETTER FROM EBRHA CEO DEREK BARNES

EBRHA’s 1,600 members own and operate almost 45k rental units throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Eighty percent of our members are small business owners operating 10 rental units or less, 50 percent are women, over 45 percent are POC, and about 20 percent are owner-occupants. Many members inherit property, are first-time rental investors or immigrants, and will often reside in space within their investment property to make home ownership economically feasible.

Over the years, EBRHA has built a strong working relationship with Oakland HCD and Rent Adjustment Program (RAP). We have always been available to city council members to discuss the challenges of rental property owners and renters, as well as proposed solutions when needed. However, only two city council members have reached out to EBRHA to discuss Councilmember Carroll Fife’s proposal to change and cap the formula for determining the allowable rent increase in Oakland. If obtaining a balanced perspective from small, community-based independent rental operators was important, city council should have engaged in more outreach before taking the drastic step to approve Fife’s proposal in the May 31, 2022 City Council meeting.

During the week leading up to the City Council meeting, EBRHA took extraordinary steps to directly communicate with Councilmembers, educate owners through ads and direct mail campaigns, activate our member base via alerts, and garner support from other pro-housing organizations.

Thank you to all EBRHA members and partners who helped advocate and amplify our collective response. Our opposition was loudly heard. In the end, Councilmember Loren Taylor’s amendment to Fife’s proposal to achieve a more fair and balanced approach for all sides was rejected. Fife’s ordinance passed with six votes – Gallo opposed, and Taylor abstained.

It’s time to deliver some hard truth to Councilmembers. Let’s continue to push and make strong points about the unintended consequences of capping annual increases to 60 percent of CPI with a cap of 3 percent:

• More small rental property owners will get out of the business entirely OR choose to exit the local rental housing business and invest in geographies that make it easier to do business. This is a disturbing and continuing trend, and the data is irrefutable. The most vulnerable owners are under-resourced – primarily women, BIPOC, retirees, and our elderly.

• More rent-controlled units that are older properties will be owned and managed by faceless investors, absentee owners and large investment companies with no roots or interest in the community where they own housing assets.

• Housing will become less safe and maintained as owners will have no choice but to minimize other expenses to offset rising operating costs due to high inflation. Owners will defer maintenance, security and improvement projects that increase the quality of habitability, security and safety for residents.

So, while Oakland City Council might think a “protenant agenda” gets political wins and votes in the short term, the bottom line is that they’re not focusing on strategic priorities that affect long-term change, innovation and transformation in housing. They’re shifting the burden of inadequate living wage policies, public safety, departmental accountability, and housing programs for increased production onto struggling small property owners.

There’s a lot of talk about equity and social justice. The truth is that after decades of “progressive policies,” the Black and African American population in Oakland has decreased by more than 40 percent since the ’80s. Many of these residents were property owners. We’re losing generations of Oaklanders who are being replaced by more affluent renters and owners who are not deeply attached to our city’s history and cultural vibrance.

Derek Barnes