City of Berkeley
Berkeley Rent Board
Print

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board Meeting Agenda: 03/20/2025

For links to individual agenda items for this meeting, please see below.

RENT STABILIZATION BOARD
Regular Meeting
Thursday, march 20, 2025 – 7:00 p.m.
School District Board Room – 1231 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA

PUBLIC ADVISORY: THIS MEETING WILL BE CONDUCTED IN A HYBRID MODEL WITH BOTH IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE AND VIRTUAL PARTICIPATION.
For in-person attendees, face coverings or masks that cover both the nose and the mouth are encouraged. If you are feeling sick, please do not attend the meeting in person.

To access this meeting remotely: Join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, or Android device by clicking on this URL: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81859169507?pwd=6Zd7ZwHyCHIEvck2cZeZcc1aeIKN5d.1. If you do not wish for your name to appear on the screen, then use the drop-down menu and click on "Rename" to rename yourself to be anonymous. To request to speak, use the “Raise Hand” icon by rolling over the bottom of the screen.

To join by phone: Dial 1-669-900-6833 and enter Webinar ID: 818 5916 9507 and Passcode: 746646. If you wish to comment during the public comment portion of the agenda, Press *9 and wait to be recognized by the Chair.

To submit a written communication for the Board’s consideration and inclusion in the public record, please email amueller@berkeleyca.gov with the Subject line in this format: “RENT BOARD MEETING PUBLIC COMMENT ITEM.” Please observe a 150-word limit. Email comments must be submitted to the email address above by 4:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting in order to be included.

Please be mindful that this will be a public meeting and all rules of procedure and decorum apply for both in-person attendees and those participating by teleconference or videoconference. 

This meeting will be conducted in accordance with Government Code Section 54953 and all current state and local requirements allowing public participation in meetings of legislative bodies. Any member of the public may attend this meeting at the posted location(s). Question regarding the matter may be addressed to DéSeana Williams, Executive Director, at (510) 981-7368 (981-RENT). The Rent Board may take action related to any subject listed on the Agenda.

COMMUNICATION ACCESS INFORMATION:
This meeting is being held in a wheelchair accessible location. To request disability-related accommodation(s) to participate in the meeting, including auxiliary aids or services, please contact the Disability Services Specialist at (510) 981-6418 (voice) or (510) 981-6347 (TDD) at least three (3) business days before the meeting date.

Attendees at public meetings are reminded that other attendees may be sensitive to various scents, whether natural or manufactured, in products and materials. Please help the City respect these needs.

RENT STABILIZATION BOARD
Regular Meeting
Thursday, March 20, 2025
7:00 p.m.
School District Board Room – 1231 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA

Video Archive (1:14) 

AGENDA

*Times allotted for each item are approximate and may be changed at the Board’s discretion
  during the course of this meeting.

  1. Roll call – 1 min.*
     
  2. Approval of Agenda – 1 min.*
     
  3. Land Acknowledgment Statement: The Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board recognizes that the rental housing units we regulate are built on the territory of xučyun (Huchiun-(Hooch-yoon)), the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo (Cho-chen-yo)-speaking Ohlone (Oh-low-nee) people, the ancestors and descendants of the sovereign Verona Band of Alameda County. This land was and continues to be of great importance to all of the Ohlone Tribes and descendants of the Verona Band. As we begin our meeting tonight, we acknowledge and honor the original inhabitants of Berkeley, the documented 5,000-year history of a vibrant community at the West Berkeley Shellmound, and the Ohlone people who continue to reside in the East Bay. We recognize that Berkeley’s landlords and tenants have and continue to benefit from the use and occupation of this unceded stolen land since the City of Berkeley’s incorporation in 1878 and since the Rent Stabilization Board’s creation in 1980. As stewards of the laws regulating rental housing, it is not only vital that we recognize the history of this land but also recognize that the Ohlone people are present members of Berkeley and other East Bay communities today. – 2 min.*
     
  4. Public Comment – 2 min.* 
     
  5. Public Comment for Unions representing Rent Board staff – 5 min.*
     
  6. CONSENT ITEMS – 1 min.*
    1. Approval of the February 20th regular meeting minutes
       
    2. Proposal to approve staff recommendations on the following requests for waivers of late registration penalties (Executive Director/Registration Unit Manager)

      Ministerial Waivers
      Property Address

      1914 Haste St
      1329 Shattuck Ave
      1411 Berkeley Way
      1537 Bonita St
      1685 Arch St
      2335 10th St 
      2455 Bonar St 
      2615 Telegraph Ave. #202
      2018 9th St. #B
      2412 Acton St
      1642 Ashby Ave
      1239 Haskell St
      2113 Delaware St #A
      337 Panoramic Way


      Discretionary Waivers
      Waiver No.     Property Address

      W5140           2020 Berkeley Way
      W5145           2 Panoramic Way #102
      W5146           2137 Ashby Ave
       
  7. ACTION ITEMS
    from Board Members, Committees, Executive Director or Staff

    Public comment will also be heard prior to the Board’s vote on each action item listed below – 1 min. per speaker*
    1. Chair Update (Chair Alpert) – 3 min.*
       
    2. Presentation on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025-2026 Registration Fee (Finance Director Shamika Cole)

      (1) Recommendation to adopt Resolution 25-03 setting the FY 2025-2026 annual registration fee for fully-covered units (due July 1, 2025) at $344 per unit (Budget & Personnel Committee and Executive Director) – 20 min.*
       
    3. Recommendation to adopt Resolution 25-04 setting the FY 2025-2026 annual registration fee for partially-covered Measure MM units (due July 1, 2025) at $212 per unit (Budget & Personnel Committee and Executive Director) – 15 min.*
       
    4. Recommendation to adopt Resolution 25-05 setting the Summer Rental Period registration fee for fraternities and sororities for FY 2025-2026 (due July 1, 2025) at $96 per unit (Budget & Personnel Committee and Executive Director) – 10 min.*
       
    5. Discussion and possible action regarding whether to adopt Resolution 25-06 authorizing the pass-through of a portion of the FY 2025-2026 registration fee for fully-controlled rental units to certain tenants (Budget & Personnel Committee and Executive Director) – 15 min.*
       
    6. Recommendation to adopt Resolution 25-07 amending the Rent Board Staffing Model (Executive Director) – 10 min.*
       
    7. Recommendation to adopt Resolution 25-08 establishing the Rent Board Travel Policy (Executive Director) – 5 min.*
       
    8. Recommendation to adopt Resolution 25-09 clarifying that landlords who had rental units come under coverage of the Rent Ordinance due to the Berkeley voters’ adoption of Measure BB shall not be prohibited from raising rents due to Rent Board registration fees not being paid prior to July 1, 2025 (Executive Director/General Counsel) – 10 min.*
       
    9. Recommendation to adopt Resolution 25-10 approving amendments to the existing employment agreement with General Counsel Matt Brown (Chair Alpert & Vice-Chair Walker) – 5 min.*
       
  8. INFORMATION, ANNOUNCEMENTS AND ARTICLES/MEDIA
    from Board Members, Committees, Executive Director or Staff

    NOTE:  The Board may vote to move Information Items to the Action calendar.
     
    1. Annual Form 700 Statement of Economic Interests filing deadline is April 1, 2025 (Board Secretary)
       
    2. Deadline to submit agenda items/topics for the April regular Rent Board meeting: Monday, April 7th by 5:00 p.m. (Board Secretary)
       
  9. COMMITTEE/BOARD MEETING UPDATES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
    1. Budget & Personnel Committee (Vice-Chair Walker, Chair) – 5 min.*
      Next regularly-scheduled meeting: To Be Announced (TBA).

      March 11th agenda
       
    2. Climate Resilience & Habitability Committee (Chair TBA) – 5 min.*
      Next regularly-scheduled meeting date: TBA 
       
    3. Eviction/Section 8/Foreclosure Committee (Chair TBA) – 5 min.*
      Next regularly-scheduled meeting: TBA
       
    4. Legislation, IRA/AGA & Registration Committee (LIRA Committee) (Chair Alpert, Chair) – 5 min.*
      Next regularly-scheduled meeting: TBA

      March 6th agenda
       
    5. Outreach Committee (Commissioner Kelley, Chair) – 5 min.*
      Next regularly-scheduled meeting: TBA
       
    6. 2 x 2 Committee on Housing: Rent Board/Berkeley Unified School District 
      (Commissioner Marrero, Chair) – 5 min.*
      Next meeting date: TBA 

      March 3rd agenda
       
    7. 4 x 4 Joint Task Force Committee on Housing: City Council/Rent Board – 5 min.*
      (Chair and Co-Chair TBA)
      Next regularly-scheduled meeting: TBA
       
    8. Updates and Announcements – 5 min.*
       
    9. Discussion of items for possible placement on future agenda – 5 min.*
       
  10. ADJOURNMENT

     

News

Aimee Mueller, Board Secretary
Email: AMueller@berkeleyca.gov
Phone: (510) 981-4932