Housing, Residential and Relocation Board Full Meeting
Thursday, April 28 at 4:30 PM

Instructions on how to join the webinar ›

The voices of Berkeley landlords and real estate practitioners should also be heard by policymakers.

It's our understanding that the East Bay Community Law Center and Eviction Defense Collaborative will be seeking more money for tenant advocacy.

It's a bit ironic that while rental property owners dutifully pay a fee to the Rent Board, part of this revenue is then handed out to groups in order to sue them. It's as if landlords are contributing to a fund used to bring a frivolous lawsuit against them or to pay for baseless defenses in an eviction action. Perhaps money can be best allocated to helping renters and their families in need, of which there are many. 

We can't help but draw a parallel with meetings held in unincorporated Alameda County for the purpose of deciding how to use sorely needed federal funds intended to go into the pockets of tenants and landlords. Instead, there have been calls to divert the money into establishing increased protections, an agenda we outlined here.

Along with the Berkeley Property Owners Association, we urge Berkeley landlords to tell their tales of hardship and renting to unscrupulous tenants.