Dear Mayor Mueller and Members of the City Council,
I do not support the Housing Commission’s Tenant Relocation Ordinance and urge you to find equitable, community-based alternatives
that aren’t punitive or burdensome on city resources.
As a housing provider who offers quality, safe housing to my tenants and recognizes our region’s housing challenges, I have
significant concerns with this approach:
1. The City of Menlo Park can't afford this program. The city is extremely short-staffed and is not structured to administer,
operate, and enforce this program. Adopting this will pull city resources away from focusing on important initiatives such as
economic development, traffic mitigation, and quality of life improvements.
2. Doesn't address the real housing problem. Even if all these conditions are approved and a displaced tenant receives relocation
payments, this does not create a single additional unit, and in fact incentives the reduction of rental units in Menlo Park.
This ultimately makes housing more expensive!
3. This is going to make the affordability problem worse. If housing providers are required to pay a relocation penalty after
every termination of tenancy or any time a tenant moves out after getting a rent increase, then housing providers will set
rents higher to cover their costs.
4. Many small mom and pops will be driven out of business. These are the same people who provide naturally affordable housing in
the city! The majority of buildings are fewer than fifty units and have renters who generally have good relationships with
their landlords.
5. This is rent control in disguise. It’s a form of rent control and just cause eviction disguised as relocation ordinance. Menlo
Park voters joined San Mateo County and the State in rejecting Prop 10. The city should consider that Menlo Park voters did
not support policies like rent control.
If the intent is to help vulnerable members of the community who are facing housing emergencies, then a better approach is to
explore emergency housing assistance programs that is funded by the community-at large vs a specific class of small business
owners.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Katrina Ho | Assistant Business Manager
777 Hamilton Apartments | Alliance Residential Company
777 Hamilton Avenue, Menlo Park, CA 94025
(p) 650.381.0673 | (e) kho@allresco.com [kho@allresco.com]
www.Liveat777Hamilton.com [http://www.liveat777hamilton.com/]
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