In several recent contentious issues in Concord there has been a display of what I call Questions not Asked and Answers not Questioned. It is the responsibility of elected leadership to take both actions. While elections are about emotion, governance is about logic.
On Feb. 25, the Concord City Council voted 3 to 2 to amend the recently instated Residential Tenant Protection Ordinance to include only those single-family and condominiums that are part of an ownership of three or more units. Furthermore, the Cap on multifamily apartments is changed to a flat 5%.
It should be noted that at the start of their deliberations led by Pablo Benavente, the point was made and agreed that they do not have data on the effects of this program. Dominic Aliano made it clear that he was not going to make any changes because there was no data.
Using the issue of rent control, when trying to provide data for decisions around adjustments to rent caps or displacement costs, here are some questions that should be asked.
What has been the change in market-rate rents? Are they going up, down or are they stable? If rates are changing less than a cap allows, is the market being restrained?
For existing long-term rentals, how many landlords that have filed for relief and what have been the results of those filings?
Has there been a reduction in the number of rental offerings? What is the change in vacancy rate?
Has there been a significant increase in the number of single-family homes taken out of the rental market? Has this resulted in a decline in sale price because of the increase in supply (a pet theory of some)?
Has there been a deterioration of neighborhoods where there are older rental units? How do you measure that?
What is the number of and percent of corporate owned units versus that of individually owned single-family homes in the rental market? What is the operational difference that is measurable between those groups? What has changed since the introduction of the ordinances?
What has been done to verify the accuracy of the data? Is the methodology inherently biased or prone to mis-categorization?
For example, asking why people left: Was it voluntary or was it because of additional fees raised, other than direct rent, that forced them out?
What is the experience in having 6- or 12-month leases broken by landlords to move in a family member?
Regarding potential displacement, considering long-term rental histories, with so many tenants on month-to-month leases, have tenants asked for a 6-month or 12-month new lease instead of month-to-month?
There has been no cap on single family rental units. Have we seen many instances of cancellations of monthly rates being replaced with significantly higher rates?
What is the value of the data presented? Is it reflective of the current situation or are we trying to talk through what was the case a year or more ago? Or is data trying to induce from the perceptions of other cities?
Considering the current state of the misinformation that is being propagated world-wide and the gross outright lies and distortions, I am often reminded of a phrase in public and private reports: “I can get any number I want except for one: the truth.”
The original ordinance calls for a data review after one year. Is it reasonable to think that the call for a review in nine months may be driven by something other than logic and perhaps simply political? Does data exist to make a logical decision or is council responding to political pressures?
These are the views of former Concord council member and Mayor, Edi Birsan. Next month with “Answers Not Challenged.”