San Jose City Council Considers Increasing Renter Protections
SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) -- San Jose City Council members are considering an ordinance that would limit no-cause evictions.
Jason Reyes, a San Jose renter, wanted council members to know how rent increases can hurt tenants.
He said his landlord gave him a 30-day notice after many years of tenancy, "just to double the rent and rent it out to someone else."
Reyes said, "…I want them to know that this could happen to anyone. It could be their son, daughter, grandmother."
He claims he was kicked out for no reason, and forced to move when he couldn't afford it.
"And it's just not right, it's just not right," Reyes said.
And he's far from alone in San Jose. From the hundreds kicked out at the rent-controlled Reserve Apartments last year -- so the owner could redevelop the property -- to the World War II veteran who was recently evicted after 44 years.
San Jose City Housing Director Jacky Morales-Ferrand said, "Today is such an important day."
The ordinance would make it so that if landlords want to take their property off the rental market they would now need to help tenants relocate.
Morales-Ferrand said San Jose is behind the times on these protections "…and so this really protects them against retaliation."
While it may be too late for Reyes and other renters, Reyes says, "It's time for bad landlords...to stop profiting from the less fortunate."
The new rules, if they come, may have some limitations, however.
One suggestion is to limit no-cause eviction protection to tenants who have filed complaints or reported violations.
But some council members think all renters should be covered.
