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City’s 2022 Rent Program Report: A Year of Transitions

Did you know that more than 53% of all housing units in Alameda are occupied by renters? And that almost half of those renters pay more than 30% of their income on rent? The latter will not come as a surprise to most Alameda renters, whose median household income is about half that of the average homeowner. To help them out, the City of Alameda established a Rent Ordinance to protect tenants from excessive rent increases and to promote equity and stability in the rental market.

Alameda Post - a photo of city hall
The Alameda Rent Program office is now located at City Hall West at 950 W Mall Square, Alameda Point. Photo City of Alameda.

The Alameda Rent Program was created to implement the City’s Rent Ordinance through education, community engagement and collaboration. It completed its first quarter as a division of the City Attorney’s Office in December, after making the transition from being a part of the Housing Authority and relocating the program’s offices to City Hall West.

The program issued its 2022 Annual Report on Monday, February 6. The report details their activities during 2022 and presents data on cases, submissions, registration, and Alameda’s rental market. Two significant changes that were noted were ending the moratoriums on rent increases and certain “no fault” terminations of tenancy that had been in place since April 2020, and updating the Alameda Rent Registry to accommodate registration of maritime tenancies following expansion of the Rent Ordinance’s regulations to include Floating Home Marinas.



Alameda Post - a bar graph labelled "Median Monthly Rent by Numbers of Bedrooms." The Y axis is money, and the X axis is number of bedrooms. The categories shown include 0 or 1 bedrooms, 2 bedrooms, 3 bedrooms, and 4 or more bedrooms, for a total of 4 categories. In each category, there are two bars. They are "Fully Regulated" and "Partially Regulated." In every category, the "Partially Regulated" units are more expensive than the "Fully Regulated" units, and the whole graph looks like a set of stairs up and to the right. Each bar also has the total number of units in that category. On the left most side of the chart, for units that are 0 or 1 bedrooms and "Fully Regulated," Alameda contains 5,169 corresponding units at a median cost of $1,805. On the right most part of the chart, for units of 4 bedrooms and up that are "Partially Regulated," Alameda has 230 such units at a Median Monthly Rent of $ 3,800.
Chart City of Alameda Rent Program Annual Report January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022.

The full 22-page report—with many helpful charts and graphics—is available to view or download online in the Alameda Rent Program portal on the City’s website.

Alameda Post - a pie chart labeled "Rental Units Owned by Landlords with Addresses..." The chart is supposed to indicate where the landlords that own property in Alameda reside themselves. According to the chart, 9% of Alameda landlords have addresses outside California, 50% of Alameda landlords have addresses in Alameda, and 41% of Alameda Landlords have addresses elsewhere in California.
50% of Alameda landlords have addresses in Alameda. Chart City of Alameda Rent Program Annual Report January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022.
  • In an average month, program staff responded to 743 inquiries.
  • During the year, almost $120,000 was refunded to 66 tenants due to invalid rent increases.
  • Staff worked with landlords to process 160 late registration submissions, reducing the total unregistered units to less than 6% of all rental units citywide.
  • Staff processed 90 requests to verify compliance with rent regulations.
  • Staff processed 29 terminations of tenancy and 41 buyout agreements.
  • Staff hosted 26 informational workshops.
  • Staff coordinated 23 rent-adjustment hearings.

“I am so pleased and proud of the work by the entire Rent Program team during 2022,” said Rent Program Director Bill Chapin. “It was a historic year for the Program. Not only did we seamlessly make the transition from the Housing Authority to the City Attorney’s Office, we did so while providing excellent services to the community. Our highly trained and dedicated program staff responded to an average of 743 housing inquires each month, processed 90 requests to verify compliance with rent regulations, processed submissions for 70 terminations of tenancy and buyout agreements, provided 26 landlord/tenant workshops, coordinated 23 rent-adjustment hearings, and successfully responded and adapted as the City exited pandemic regulations.”

Landlords and Tenants are welcome to contact the Rent Program at 510-747-7520 or [email protected]. Informational materials and resources are available at alamedarentprogram.org.

Learn more at a workshop: The Rent Program offers monthly workshops with comprehensive information on rent regulations in the City of Alameda. Each session includes a presentation on landlord and tenant rights and responsibilities under Rent Ordinance no. 3250, followed by an opportunity for participants to ask questions. Workshops are held in person at City Hall West and online via Zoom. Learn more and register online to attend an upcoming workshop.

Rental FAQ: Landlords and tenants both need to know the basic rules that apply to rent increases, termination of tenancy, temporary relocations, and other issues regulated by the Alameda Rent Program. This FAQ section was written to help landlords navigate the rules, but tenants also need to know the rules that protect them.

Looking forward: The Program, in coordination with the Prosecution and Public Rights Unit of the City Attorney’s Office, is already planning a Fair Housing Conference in April, which will bring broad and in-depth education to both landlords and tenants about housing rights and responsibilities under federal, state, and local laws.

“Maintaining housing stability for existing residents and protecting the affordable housing supply are critical tools in combating the current historic statewide housing and homelessness crisis,” said City Attorney Yibin Shen. “The Rent Program, in collaboration with the Prosecution and Public Rights Unit, has been true leaders in these important efforts. I am thrilled to welcome the Rent Program into the City family and look forward to close collaborations and more innovative efforts to advance these important Council priorities.”

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