San Jose needs plan for protecting renters, audit finds

A city policy aimed at protecting renters from unjust evictions doesn’t have a clear roadmap for taking action against San Jose property owners who break the law.

The City Auditor’s Office previously examined the policy, which requires landlords to give valid reasons for evicting tenants — but renters claim the city’s rent control policies don’t always work. This sparked another review and recommendations for how the policy can benefit both tenants and property owners. Rent control experts told San José Spotlight they’re surprised by the auditor’s findings.

Auditors highlighting areas of improvement discovered employees in the housing department have no formal process for enforcing the tenant protection policy, which covers just over 40,000 San Jose homes.

City officials passed the policy, known as the Tenant Protection Ordinance (TPO), in 2017 after residents said they needed protections from landlords who indiscriminately evict renters. The updated policy charges landlords a $23 fee per home to cover the costs of city employees overseeing the rent stabilization program. When these employees find out about a landlord violating the tenant protection policy, in most cases they send an informal email or call the offending landlord — but this doesn’t always solve the problem.

San Jose City Auditor Joe Rios said the housing department should provide criteria for when to act on landlords violating the tenant protection policy. The housing department should also work on educating tenants of their rights and work with landlords to address ongoing issues.

San Jose is averaging more than 3,100 eviction notices and close to 400 eviction lawsuits per quarter, Rios said.

“Standard procedures and data collection would enhance the TPOs performance management, a key part of implementing the TPO is providing landlords and tenants with information to ensure compliance and to exercise their rights,” he said at the city’s Community & Economic Development Committee meeting on Oct. 28.

The city documented about 1,500 tenant protection related interactions with renters and landlords across 600 properties in 2023, he added.

Suzanne Dershowitz, senior staff attorney for nonprofit Public Advocates, said San Jose should have created a process for enforcing the tenant protection policy so more potential violations can be found.

“It’s important for the city to standardize the process and escalate violations through that administrative enforcement process, as well as use those compliance notices and citations to ultimately scale up to enforcement and hold bad actors accountable when necessary,” Dershowitz told San José Spotlight.

San Jose’s housing department has issued citation warnings to at least seven property owners since the policy was approved. But auditors said the city has no concrete enforcement policy to determine what merits a warning or citation. City officials can sue landlords violating the tenant protection policy for up to $2,500 per day, or $10,000 per violation.

Jeff Scott, spokesperson for the housing department, said landlords usually cancel eviction notices when informed of potential violations.

“The rent stabilization program’s recently approved strategic plan calls for stricter enforcement of the city’s housing ordinances, as well as development of standard procedures to ensure a consistent staff response when violations of ordinances occur,” Scott told San José Spotlight.

Dershowitz said the lack of punishment or citation for landlords who violate the policy is concerning.

“I found it really troubling that the audit found only seven properties have ever received formal compliance notices for violations of the TPO since it was adopted,” she told San José Spotlight “The report also said that no TPO administrative citations have ever been issued to date.”
In 2022, one of San Jose’s largest housing developers agreed to pay back tenants after it was discovered they raised rent above the state limit. A few years prior, tenants in an unrelated case sued under the city’s tenant protection policy and alleged they were illegally evicted.

Tristia Bauman, lead housing attorney for the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, said the foundation has provided legal services for residents facing unlawful evictions in San Jose and found many landlords don’t follow the tenant protection policy.

“We also are aware of a number of instances where landlords don’t notify the city, as they’re required to do, when they serve an eviction notice to our clients,” Bauman told San José Spotlight. “We also see people who are not advised of their right to relocation assistance.”

Bauman said given the housing affordability and availability crisis across San Jose, city officials should be going after property owners who illegally evict residents.

“Not only will it have a huge benefit to vulnerable tenants, I believe it will help reduce homelessness in our region,” she said.

Contact Vicente Vera at [email protected] or follow @VicenteJVera on X, formerly known as Twitter.