Oakland passes rent hike, eviction moratorium

The city of Oakland took action Tuesday night to deal with the growing affordable housing crisis.

After a marathon city council meeting where hundreds of people lined up to speak, city leaders voted to pass a 90-day moratorium on rent increases above 1% and evictions without cause.

The housing affordability crisis is a major issue in Oakland where 60% of residents are tenants.

More than 200 people signed up to speak at the meeting which did not wrap up until after midnight. 

The chambers were packed and crowds of people even lined up outside city hall in an attempt to get inside the meeting.

The approved proposal also closes a loophole that allows landlords to increase rent if they do renovations on a property.

Oakland has the 4th highest median rent prices in the nation, with an average rental for a one bedroom apartment going for almost $2300 a month; that’s a 14% increase from a year ago.

City leaders hope to use the 90-day waiting period to come up with a more comprehensive long term solution for the housing crisis.

The affordable housing issue has recently been raised in other Bay Area cities.

Earlier this year the city of Alameda passed a similar moratorium and just this week San Mateo considered enacting rent control but ultimately decided against the proposal.