TITLE
Recommendation to direct City Attorney to modify the Tenant Anti-Harassment ordinance passed November 2, 2020 to reflect the following:
Addition of “in bad faith” to line one of Section 8.101.030.
DISCUSSION
Long Beach is a majority renter City where the protection of tenant rights has continually been a priority for the City Council.
On November 2, 2020 the Long Beach City Council continued this focus and enacted, by urgency order, an ordinance meant to protect tenants from undue harassment from their landlord. The legislative intent was to target persistent violators, “bad actors,” and/or those landlords who ignore or neglect the legally required protections tenants are afforded, and the duties they have toward their tenants.
However, the language currently included in the ordinance ignores this stated intent by not including a “bad faith” requirement as a foundation to initiate litigation. Other cities that have adopted tenant anti-harassment ordinances such as Oakland, West Hollywood, and Santa Monica all include a bad faith component in their policies to allow for an objective and fair assessment of allegations made under the ordinance.
As the underlying ordinance was declared an emergency, any modification to the ordinance would similarly be considered an emergency since the modifications would attach to, and ultimately amend, the original ordinance.
FISCAL IMPACT
Due to the urgency of this item no fiscal impact assessment has been conducted.
STATEMENT OF URGENCY:
Ordinance was recently enacted, so important changes should be made expeditiously
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
SUZIE PRICE
COUNCILWOMAN, THIRD DISTRICT