Berkeley landlord association throws party to celebrate restarting evictions (Discovery Bay: apartments, renters)

[sav858]

I think Berkeley libs have to be the most entertaining. What's even funnier is they probably still don't realize they keep voting for this lol.


Berkeley landlord association throws party to celebrate restarting evictions

In a move that critics are calling “one of the most tasteless events I’ve ever heard of,” Berkeley landlords are celebrating the end of eviction protections in the East Bay city with a cocktail party.

The Berkeley Property Owners Association, a trade group for rental property owners in Berkeley, apparently believes regaining the right to throw people out of their homes is cause for celebration — or at least a networking event. The “Fall Social Mixer: Celebrating the End of the Eviction Moratorium” is set for the evening of Sept. 12; the event was first spotted by Berkeleyside.


BPOA claims renters abused the moratorium to weasel out of paying rent. “We make no qualms about celebrating the end of the eviction moratorium. We are celebrating the end of the tenants who could have paid rent, and chose not to,” BPOA President Krista Gulbransen told Berkeleyside.

[Ruth4Truth]

Interesting that you assume the members of the landlords' association are "libs". As if the entire population of Berkeley are card-carrying members of the Dem Party. Berkeley has always had its conservatives, though they're fewer now than before, but they're there.

There was a time, well before Air B & B was invented, that I was visiting Berkeley a couple times/year, and often staying in what were billed as B & B's, through an organization called "The Berkeley B & B Network". What I discovered was a vast network of apartment rental units being kept off the open rental market by homeowners, who didn't want to be constrained by Berkeley's radical tenants' rights laws (rent control), that limited rent hikes and also forbid tenant eviction, even if the home with one or more rental units was being sold to a new owner. People didn't want to lose control of their properties.

Some of these B&B units were in homes that had been subdivided into small apartments, some were MIL units and backyard ADU's. These weren't big apartment buildings; all the ones I saw were either SFH's that had been subdivided and owned by a neighbor who presumably had invested in the remodel and conversion as part of their nest egg before radical rent control was passed, or an MIL or ADU unit. Although I heard stories about larger buildings also being kept off the market. All anyone had to do, is stock their rental's kitchen with food to qualify it as a B & B.

You can see how that situation was a precursor of Air B & B. I'm not sure I'd blame LL's for celebrating the return of eviction potential after a long period of its banning, when they weren't able to collect any rent at all. That was an extreme situation. OTOH, if they're now allowed to evict for just cause, does that mean that Berkeley rent control laws have been rolled back to some degree? Or did they always allow eviction for failure to pay rent (prior to Covid), or damage to the unit, or whatever, if properly documented?


I think Air B&B has allowed rental markets to go to the opposite extreme; in tourism-dependent towns especially, so many units, including entire SFH's, have been taken off the long-term rental market due to temp rentals being so much more lucrative, that there's a dire scarcity of conventional rentals in those towns. Port Townsend, WA is the poster child for that issue.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Interesting that you assume the members of the landlords' association are "libs". As if the entire population of Berkeley are card-carrying members of the Dem Party. Berkeley has always had its conservatives, though they're fewer now than before, but they're there.

Well considering only 2.5% of Berkeley residents are registered republicans I'd say it's a safe bet that the vast majority of BPOA members are your typical Berkeley lib. It's not like there is much ideological diversity in the city.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by sav858

Well considering only 2.5% of Berkeley residents are registered republicans I'd say it's a safe bet that the vast majority are your typical Berkeley lib. It's not like there is much ideological diversity there.

You don't think conservatives would party when an eviction ban was lifted after a year or two of tenants not paying rent, even those who could afford to pay rent?

[sav858]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

You don't think conservatives would party when an eviction ban was lifted after a year or two of tenants not paying rent, even those who could afford to pay rent?

I'm sure they would but what does that have to do with the likelihood of the vast majority of BPOA being a Berkeley lib?

[Tulemutt]

Do we know if Berkeley landlords are Berkeley resident registered voters?

[sav858]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Do we know if Berkeley landlords are Berkeley resident registered voters?

Because I'm sure that will make much of a difference LOL

[mattja]

You can't really blame them, can you? Most landlords are mom and pop businesses renting an extra house. The rent and eviction moratoriums did not include mortgage payment and property tax moratoriums, did they? And how many years did this go on? Three years?

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by sav858

Because I'm sure that will make much of a difference LOL

??? What?

You just posted that because: “… only 2.5% of Berkeley residents are registered republicans I'd say it's a safe bet that the vast majority of BPOA members are your typical Berkeley lib...”

I’m asking a simple question: do you know whether “… the vast majority of BPOA members … “ are Berkeley residents and registered voters?

I don’t know, and I’m curious. Just asking. Because, maybe a number of BPOA members aren’t Berkeley libs. Maybe they’re not Berkeley people at all. Maybe they are. Owning and renting out properties anyplace doesn’t mean the landlord lives in the same area, right?

[sav858]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

??? What?

You just posted that because: “… only 2.5% of Berkeley residents are registered republicans I'd say it's a safe bet that the vast majority of BPOA members are your typical Berkeley lib...”

I’m asking a simple question: do you know whether “… the vast majority of BPOA members … “ are Berkeley residents and registered voters?

I don’t know, and I’m curious. Just asking. Because, maybe a number of BPOA members aren’t Berkeley libs. Maybe they’re not Berkeley people at all. Maybe they are. Owning and renting out properties anyplace doesn’t mean the landlord lives in the same area, right?

It doesn't really matter overall, the whole area isn't a whole lot different unless you think there are a bunch of Berkeley landlords who live in Discovery Bay and Solano County. Sure some might be your typical insufferable run-of-the-mill Bay Area lib instead, but point is they aren't highly unlikely to be conservative in any case.