SAN DIEGO — San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera announced a new proposal that would enhance protections for renters, and “provide clarity” for landlords, with a goal of preventing more people from becoming homeless.

The framework is intended to create more resources for renters and landlords. It includes proposals for relocation assistance or rent waivers, property exemptions, more services for seniors and disabled residents to ease finding housing for rent and more time for renters to fix violations that may be a cause for eviction.

“This city is pro-housing, we are committed to making sure people that more people have housing opportunities that they can afford, but the challenges of this housing crisis can’t be solved overnight,” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said.

“Prevention of homelessness is a really important component addressing our cities crisis and making meaningful progress and we believe stronger tenant protections are an important part of that” City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera said. He believes this proposal would create, “more housing stability without creating an overly burdensome situation for housing providers where there not able to stay in business either.”

This framework announcement, which is still a proposal, came just a few days after Downtown San Diego Partnership’s monthly homeless count showed a record-breaking number.

The partnership has been counting, monthly, how many unsheltered people live in downtown San Diego since 2012. The count for November 2022 showed the highest number the partnership has recorded, 1,706.

“Due to largely, the high cost of living, more people are falling into homelessness than in years past, our regional task force on homelessness indicates that for every 10 people we get off the streets, 13 people join them on the streets,” Mayor Gloria said.

According to a press release from the mayor and council president, the framework announced was put together with input from rental housing providers, residents and tenant advocates, plus recommendations at a city council workshop in October.

The proposal is anticipated to bring San Diego’s current city regulations up to state law in accordance with the Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (AB 1482) by providing additional notice to renters, clear up and define the terms for “No Fault” and “At Fault Termination of Tenancies,” help renters and landlords with more opportunities to fix issues that could cause wrongful terminations, relocation assistance or rental waivers, exemptions for property and define more terms not already written in the city’s current ordinance.

No monetary amount for suggested relocation assistance was provided in the announcement.

The framework also brings the idea of exploring “a long-term revenue stream in conjunction with rental housing providers to expand support, resources and opportunities for the City`s rental housing stakeholders, both renters and providers.”

The announcement said the proposed ordinance would go further than the state law and provide more assistance by the following:

It would also provide new services and resources to make it easier to find housing that is for rent, for seniors and residents who are disabled, plus develop new resources for notices and partnering with not-for-profits.

“The data is clear: More people are falling into homelessness than in years past, requiring policy reforms at the local level that will help keep roofs over San Diegans` heads as well as connect people to more affordable housing,” Mayor Todd Gloria said in the news release. “I`m confident that this framework will help us take the necessary steps to protect renters from wrongful terminations, provide clarity and consistency to our rental housing stakeholders and prevent people from falling into homelessness.”

According to Zillow, the median rent in San Diego has decreased by $45 in the last month. The median rent sits at $3,300, which is up $220 from December 2021. San Diego’s median rent price of $3,300 is $1.200 more than the national median. Zillow shows there are 2,627 rentals available on the market in San Diego.

The city council is anticipated to vote on the proposed framework and ordinance in 2023.