Pasadena moves to create rent control department for tenant protections

A Pasadena rent control board could turn into a city department to help speed up voter-approved tenant protections.

The City Council voted to direct the city attorney to prepare an ordinance establishing a Rent Stabilization Department, the Pasadena Star-News reported. A vote is expected in 60 days.

The ordinance would end in two years, with a council review after 12 months.

Measure H, Pasadena’s first rent control measure, was a charter amendment approved by voters last November to set up a rental housing board to oversee rent control, just-cause evictions, relocation assistance and more. It was challenged in court by landlords, but upheld by a state judge.

The recent move comes after a rental board request to incorporate late last month in order to help speed up the implementation of voter-approved tenant protections.

With the board still getting off the ground, it hasn’t hired the needed staff to respond to the rush of requests from renters relying on their advice and enforcement, according to the Star-News.

While board contractor BHYV Consulting has handled emails in the interim, there’s no one to answer phone calls, Chair Ryan Bell said.

The council voted 6–0 to approve the city department, but not without reservations about the board’s independence from the council, as was outlined in Measure H. 

It states the board “shall exercise its powers and duties under this article independent from the City Council, city manager and city attorney, except by request of the Rental Board.” 

“This is going to get messy, this is not too clear-cut here,” Councilman Gene Masuda said. “Our residents, I don’t think they saw any of this coming so this is a big change. I’m not saying I’m against it, but this is a big change right now and I’m just afraid that it’s just going to get messier.”

To address those concerns, the council also directed staff to look into alternative structures to implement the voter-approved measure, including setting up a nonprofit, exploring staffing models, and looking into changes to the charter that clean up ambiguities and oversights in the rent control language.

Some council members worried that, as a city department, the Rent Stabilization Department would be overseen by the city manager, and therefore the City Council.

“I mean, if your city manager is hiring and firing the staff of your rental housing board, it is not a separate entity of the city,” Councilman Tyron Hampton said.

As it stands, the board will establish its own budget, based on the landlord fees it sets for itself, that will have to be approved by the council. The new department will be overseen by a director to be recommended by the board.

— Dana Bartholomew

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