OCEANSIDE — The City Council has once again reversed a previously approved decision — this time, on tenant protections.
In early September, a narrow council majority approved an ordinance that went beyond state law. The proposal included:
-
Extending eligibility to tenants who had lived in a unit at least six months, compared with the state’s 12-month requirement.
-
Reducing exemptions for new construction from 15 years under state law to 10 years.
-
Requiring landlords to provide relocation assistance equal to one month’s rent for tenants facing no-fault evictions, including property removal from the market, substantial remodels or demolitions, government orders, or an owner or family move-in.
The measure would also have redefined “substantial remodels” for no-fault evictions, requiring projects to last at least 60 days, which is double the state’s 30-day threshold. Cosmetic upgrades — such as flooring, cabinets, countertops, windows and wall coverings — would not qualify.
Tenants would have retained the right to return at their prior rental rate if the promised remodel or demolition did not occur, or if the owner failed to move in within 90 days or maintain primary residency for one year. They could also reclaim a unit at the previous rent if it were re-listed within two years.
The ordinance, which would have covered approximately 18,000 homes in Oceanside, was returned for final adoption on Sept. 17. At that meeting, Councilmember Rick Robinson reversed his earlier “yes” vote and joined Mayor Esther Sanchez and Councilmember Peter Weiss in opposing the measure.
“I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint many of you tonight,” Robinson told a crowded chamber after several public speakers urged the council to maintain its support.
Robinson said he had initially opposed the ordinance, authored by Deputy Mayor Eric Joyce and Councilmember Jimmy Figueroa. At the Sept. 3 meeting, he voted in favor after Joyce and Figueroa accepted amendments he suggested.
Robinson later said Joyce was “a skilled politician and negotiator” who persuaded him to support the ordinance. But after the vote, Robinson said, he regretted it.
“For days after, I felt I did the wrong thing because I don’t believe what we did gets to the crux of these major things people are talking about tonight,” he said. “What we did is not going to keep people in their homes.”
He urged the mayor to collaborate with the Housing Commission to explore alternative approaches to addressing rental challenges. He also said some small “mom-and-pop” landlords told him the ordinance’s impacts were misleading.
Joyce and Figueroa argued the ordinance would have provided stability for renters facing displacement in Oceanside’s tight housing market.
“This modest proposal that has slight changes from the state law would provide stability because people are turned out of their house so that the rent can be raised and somebody else can be brought in,” Joyce said. “It is not nothing, it’s important. Fifty-one percent of Oceanside households qualify as low income — that means when they get pushed out of their housing, they are on the door of homelessness.”
Joyce also said the ordinance would have closed loopholes, protected vulnerable tenants, and provided the city with better housing data.
Figueroa, who grew up in Oceanside, said rising rents have driven many of his friends and family out of the city.
“We hoped to bring forward a stronger ordinance, but we knew that this was something we could compromise on,” he said. “It may feel like a limited tool, but it is a tool in the toolbox to address and prevent homelessness in our community, and to help slow the rate of the gentrification that’s taken place in Oceanside.”
This is the third time this year the City Council has reversed a prior vote.
“It’s becoming exhausting to think we’re going to move forward in one direction on a matter and then to have the rug pulled out beneath our feet when we show up on the final vote,” said Oceanside resident Amber Kae Niuatoa.
Earlier this year, Figueroa switched his vote to oppose flying the rainbow pride flag during Pride Month in June, and in August, he flipped to support the Eddie Jones Warehouse Project. Both reversals changed the outcomes.
Niuatoa, a MiraCosta College professor, told the council she has already received three emails from students this semester who are struggling with housing insecurity.
