Santa Clara County expands protections to include more renters

Santa Clara County is expanding the types of renters covered under its eviction protection laws — and the amount landlords will pay to help displaced tenants relocate.

The Board of Supervisors on June 2 voted 4-1 — with District 5 Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga voting no — to revise the county’s 1993 tenant protection law, which sets out procedures for landlords seeking to displace renters in unincorporated areas. The revised policy goes beyond state law to cover tenants who have lived in their homes for any amount of time, even less than a few days, and renters living in single-family homes or duplexes. It also applies to housing built in the last 15 years, which state law exempts.

The revised policy aims to protect tenants from eviction for allowing immediate family members to live with them, provided the home isn’t overcrowded. And while state law authorizes evictions for any type of “criminal activity,” the county’s revisions limit this to conduct that impacts the peace, quiet, comfort or safety of other tenants at the property or threatens the safety of the owner.

“This ordinance reflects years of thoughtful work and engagement,” Emily Ramos, an organizer with Silicon Valley@Home, said during public comment. “Housing stability is homelessness prevention. When a homeowner loses their home, the consequences can be devastating and in Santa Clara County’s housing market, even a short period of displacement can put a family at risk of homelessness.”

Landlords will have to provide relocation assistance — equaling three months’ rent or waiving the tenant’s final three months’ worth of payment — to a broader category of tenants. Previously, relocation assistance requirements only applied to tenants displaced due to hazardous or unsafe conditions. Now, it will apply to any tenant evicted due to a property owner moving in, withdrawing the home from the rental market, demolition of the building and more.

The changes go beyond statewide protections laid out in California’s landmark 2019 rent control and eviction law, with the county joining San Jose, Sunnyvale and Milpitas in adopting stricter protections.

“It just surprises me that we are just now as a county catching up to the other cities,” District 1 Supervisor Sylvia Arenas said at the meeting. “I just don’t see this as something that’s out of the ordinary.”

But the vote didn’t come without opposition. Abe-Koga, whose election was backed by property owners and commercial real estate groups, said more research is needed on the impacts of the law to “missing-middle” property owners and those who charged tenants less than area market rate.

“I have daughters coming back from college, I have housed my parents over the years,” Abe-Koga said before the vote. “We have a lot more extended families in those circumstances. Shouldn’t they have the flexibility to house their own family if needed? I think it’s really important we put in income qualifications.”

Anil Babbar, a representative of the California Apartment Association, said Santa Clara County gave property owners limited time to study the proposal since conducting an outreach campaign on the revisions two years ago.

“We did not have enough time to review this,” Babbar said during public comment.

Abe-Koga sought to delay the vote to August, but a majority of her colleagues opted to take action immediately. The revisions will need a second reading at the next board meeting to become final.

County data shows 42% of all renter households are either burdened — or severely burdened — by rent that accounts for more than 30% to 50% of household income. County officials counted 4,053 formal evictions between July 2023 and June 2024, equating to one eviction for every 72 renter households.

In 2025, approximately 3,800 Santa Clara County households requested housing assistance for the first time, while the county’s homelessness prevention system only has the capacity to serve 2,500 households annually with rental assistance and case management.

Santa Clara County also has a shortage of eviction attorneys, with roughly one attorney for every 480 evictions filed.

More than 5,000 households requested assistance in 2025 due to the imminent risk of eviction, which officials said forced them to turn away thousands of families in need. Approximately 30% of residential homes in the unincorporated parts of the county are renter occupied, equal to roughly 8,000 residences.

“Homelessness is broadly recognized as one of the top three — if not one of the greatest — social challenges in our state,” District 4 Supervisor Susan Ellenberg said at the meeting. “I think we should be doing everything we can to protect tenants who are following all the laws.”

Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X.