Sixth Annual Fair Housing Conference - April 20, 2026
Sixth Annual Fair Housing Conference (April 20, 2026)
The City of Alameda hosted its sixth annual fair housing conference, bringing together city officials, attorneys, tenant advocates, property managers, and community members to discuss fair housing laws, tenant protections, and recent legal developments. Speakers included City Attorney Ibn Shen, Mayor Ashcraft, the California Attorney General (via video), and expert panelists covering eviction trends, federal fair housing challenges, immigrant tenant rights, utility billing policies, and new court rulings affecting rent control.
Opening Remarks
- City Attorney Ibn Shen welcomed attendees and introduced the California Attorney General, who emphasized the state's commitment to housing production and enforcement, noting that his team has led cities to plan for 44,000 new housing units.
- Mayor Ashcraft highlighted the importance of tenant protections, referencing Alameda's 2016 rental protection laws and the three P's: produce, preserve, protect. She stressed that preventing homelessness is more economical than addressing it afterwards.
City Attorney's Update: Program Successes and New Services
- Admiral's Cove Court Victory: The California Court of Appeal issued a published decision holding that former military housing is subject to rent control, rejecting arguments that such housing is exempt. This precedent-setting ruling protects 150 units at Admiral's Cove and applies statewide.
- Grant Funding for Clinics: The city's rent program expects to receive grant funding to launch clinic-level services where tenants and landlords can ask questions directly, reducing the need for expensive private consultations.
- Program Costs: Since 2022, program fee increases have been kept to an average of 3.6% (CPI), while new services (mediation, rent increase checks) were added without additional fee hikes.
Eviction Trends and Legal Resources (Mark Janowitz, East Bay Community Law Center)
- Evictions in Alameda County remain above pre-pandemic levels, though they have declined from a post-moratorium surge. Weekly eviction calendars in Department 511 list at least 50 cases.
- Non-payment of rent is the most common cause; landlords must prove the lawful amount owed, considering tenant defenses (retaliation, discrimination, warranty of habitability).
- The East Bay Community Law Center receives 500 intake calls per month but cannot serve everyone, highlighting the need for education and resources. A resource sheet was distributed.
National Fair Housing Landscape (Gary Rhodes)
- Federal fair housing enforcement has been weakened by the Trump administration: HUD staffing cuts, funding reductions, and a proposed rule to gut the disparate impact standard. The comment period on that rule ends April 21, 2026.
- In California, disparate impact remains protected under state law, and the Civil Rights Department continues enforcement. AI tenant screening tools risk perpetuating historical discrimination through algorithmic bias.
- Rhodes contrasted Kansas City, Missouri (where state preemption limits local protections) with California's robust framework.
Immigrant Tenant Protections (Leah Simon Weisberg)
- California law (Immigrant Tenant Protection Act) prohibits landlords from asking about immigration status or threatening to report tenants to ICE. Landlords cannot enter units with ICE without a judicial warrant.
- A case study was presented of an Oakland landlord who threatened tenants about immigration status, leading to a lawsuit filed by Movement Legal. The panel emphasized that all tenants, regardless of status, share the same housing rights.
- Tenants are urged to document threats and contact legal aid organizations.
Victim Services Introduction
- City Attorney Shen introduced Val Sindel, the city's first victim services advocate, funded by a state grant and council support. The advocate assists victims of crime, including those with rental issues, with court accompaniment, restraining orders, and connecting to resources.
RUBS (Ratio Utility Billing Systems) Policy Review (Ryan Halpern)
- RUBS allows landlords to split shared utility bills among tenants. In Alameda, it is permitted only if part of the original rental agreement; unbundling mid-tenancy is not allowed.
- Due to increased complaints, the rent program is considering three policy options:
- Reform: Require disclosure, itemized bills, fee caps, and a formal dispute process.
- Partial Ban: Ban RUBS for new tenancies while grandfathering existing ones.
- Full Ban: Prohibit RUBS entirely for regulated units, requiring utilities to be folded into rent with a utility adjustment petition.
- A community survey is open until a yet-to-be-determined date. Staff aim to bring a recommendation to City Council before summer 2026.
Costa-Hawkins Updates (Bill Chapin)
- Two recent California Court of Appeal decisions have implications for rent control.
- Pasadena Case (Dec. 2025): The court struck down Pasadena's relocation assistance requirement for large rent increases on units exempt from local rent control (post-1995, single-family homes). The court held that such increases are not constructive evictions. This eliminates limits on rent increases for buildings built after 2009 (15-year rolling exemption) and single-family homes not owned by corporations (unless proper exemption notice was given).
- Admiral's Cove Case (City of Alameda victory): The court ruled that former military housing renovated and re-rented remains subject to rent control if it had prior residential use, rejecting the argument that vacancy or renovation creates a new exemption.
- Implications: Tenants in single-family homes and newer units have fewer protections. The rent program will work to ensure refunds for overpayments at Admiral's Cove.
Closing Remarks (Gary Rhodes)
- Rhodes connected current struggles to the history of the Fair Housing Act, noting that California and Kansas City continue to push back against discrimination. He urged attendees to remain engaged and to report violations.
Questions and Answers
- Property manager on ICE visits: Panel advised to have a policy in place and to distinguish between judicial warrants and administrative warrants. Landlords can refuse entry without a judicial warrant.
- Source of income discrimination: Panel encouraged reporting refusals to accept Section 8 to the city attorney's office (Rico) or the Civil Rights Department.
- Habitability and eviction burden: Mark Janowitz explained that landlords must prove rent lawfully owed; tenants can raise habitability defenses.
- RUBS and fair return: Ryan Halpern confirmed that installing individual meters could qualify as a capital improvement or be included in a fair return petition.
- Single renters and fair housing: A participant raised concerns about protections for single people; panel noted that gender protections exist and that California's Unruh Act prohibits arbitrary discrimination.
- Applicability of laws to government housing: Both private and government housing providers must generally comply with fair housing laws, though certain affordable housing may be exempt from some rent control provisions.
- Application fees: Mark Janowitz described existing laws requiring refunds and disclosure of screening reports, but noted enforcement often relies on small claims court.
Key Outcomes
- The city will continue to enforce the Admiral's Cove ruling to ensure refunds and stability for 150 households.
- The rent program will complete a survey and public input process on RUBS, with a council proposal expected before summer 2026.
- The city attorney's office launched a victim services program with a dedicated advocate.
- Attendees were encouraged to utilize resource sheets, contact the rent program for specific issues, and report fair housing violations to Rico or the Civil Rights Department.
Meeting Transcript
Thank you for joining us for our sixth annual fair housing conference. I'm Ibn Shen, I'm the city attorney for the City of Alameda. I want to warmly welcome everyone for being here. We have really an amazing panel that will be sharing really topical matters with you today. Before we do that, we have a few welcoming remarks. We're going to begin by welcoming remarks from uh virtual welcoming remarks from the California Attorney General. Our colleagues at the balcony, we could uh we could use help with sound. Hey, it's Ralph. When they don't, we take action. To date, my team has led cities across California to plan for forty-four thousand new units of housing. We'll continue to use the full force of the law to ensure all Californians have a safe and dignified place to call home. I'm grateful for the Alameda City Attorney's partnership and our shared mission to increase accessible, affordable, and dignified housing in California. Thank you and enjoy the rest of this workshop. And as the Attorney General said, every city has to do their part. And our city is led by an amazing city council and a mayor who really has worked so hard to provide for, to preserve and to protect affordable housing. Mayor Ashcraft, would you please share a few words? Good morning, everyone, and good morning, distinguished panelists. Excuse my back. And thank you to our city attorney Ibn Shannon, the city attorney's office for presenting this fair housing workshop once again. And I'm just so pleased to see all of you in the audience who include rental housing providers and I'm sure some renters too. It's so important to know your rights, to know your responsibilities. And I'm always impressed with the agenda that you put together for these programs that are so topical and of the moment, um, immigrants and tenants' rights, um, the use of AI in tenant selection, and all the you know, updates, latest updates to fair housing laws. But as the attorney general said, we have a housing crisis in our state, and I I serve on both state and regional and county bodies. I'm sit on the board of directors of the League of California Cities, where I often remind my colleagues that the state has a housing crisis because, in large part, people just like us, elected officials who sit where we sit, made decisions or failed to make decisions. They pushed the can down the road, they kick the can down the road, they said, not here, not now, not in my backyard, maybe in yours. But they didn't act. And so the buck has to stop somewhere and now. And so just by way of example, a little earlier this year, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, where I also sit, I represent the 14 cities of Alameda County, was considering changes to its transit-oriented communities policies, which has to do with making sure we're locating housing near transit and job centers. So people have that ability, the mobility and access to jobs. But there was a move to push back tenant protections that were required in these policies. And it was a surprisingly close vote on the MTC, but our side prevailed. But what I reminded people is that 10 years ago, I was listening to all these arguments about how if you instituted these tenant protections, landlords would no longer make their properties available and rentals would just go away. But I told people I was having a deja vu moment because 10 years ago, literally in the month of March in 2016, the City of Alameda passed its rental protection laws, but it also included robust education. We have a rent program that provides multiple opportunities for education for tenants, for landlords all year long to know your rights, to know your responsibilities. And that is one of the three Ps of how we prevent homelessness. We need to produce more housing. We need to preserve the housing stock we have, but we also must protect our renters and especially the most vulnerable. And I don't need to tell you our high cost of living Bay Area. And now we're paying, oh, I don't know, up to $6 a gallon for gas. People are living with such close margins, if at all, most people don't have a rainy day fund. So a renter can easily slip into housing insecurity with a medical crisis, a car repair, a loss of a job. We have to be there with safety nets to provide that. It is so much more economical to prevent people from slipping into homelessness than it is to address what happens when they do become homeless. So workshops like this are so valuable. I'm so forward thinking. So thank you all for presenting this information. I wish I could stay and listen to the whole thing, but I've got kind of a full calendar today. I'll stay as long as I can. But thank you all for being here and educating yourself. You're providing a valuable service to our community and the greater region in the state.
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