City Government

Stockton City Council Unanimously Passes Rent Control Ordinance, Bans No-fault Evictions

Published

7 years ago

November 21, 2019

The Stockton City Council unanimously passed a rent control ordinance Tuesday night that adopts Assembly Bill 1482, capping rent increases to 5 percent annually. That will go into effect immediately.

By adopting the Tenant Protection Act of 2019, or AB 1482, the city also immediately bans no-fault evictions in the city, ahead of the bill’s Jan. 1, 2020 implementation. Under the new ordinance, landlords will only be able to evict tenants if they have a reason — like not paying rent or breaking their lease agreement.

In a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home in North Stockton, Tam-me Jackson, husband Ed and recent college graduate and son Nijer have rented seven years. But, it hasn’t been easy.

“I think it’s pretty difficult to be a renter in Stockton,” said Jackson.

Jackson works two jobs as social worker and marriage and family therapist. Her husband, a former warehouse supervisor, is disabled. Their rent was $1,100, but her landlord increased it this month to $1,300. That’s an 18 percent increase.

“He has let me know that he knows my rent is under market. So, I’m sure he’s looking to get it to at the market rate,” added Jackson.

Jackson says it causes anxiety not knowing when or how much her rent could go up again. That’s why Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs is proposing an emergency amendment to the city code to limit the rental increases yearly to 5 percent, plus cost of living.

That coincides with a new state law in 2020. Tubbs says it can’t wait.

“So, what we’re doing is saying the state law goes into effect in January. Let’s make it in effect today so that [on] Thanksgiving and Christmas we don’t have people being evicted for no reason,” Tubbs said.

As you might imagine, landlords have a much different opinion when it comes to the rent control proposal.

Steve Smith is a veteran Stockton landlord who manages properties for his mother. He says rent control just means more regulations and takes away the incentive for investors to purchase properties.

“Most of the people that own rentals in this community, houses, for instance, most of them are people that didn’t work for the city, didn’t work for the county, didn’t work for a large corporation that had pensions. They saved their money for 30 years to buy one, two, three houses and that is their retirement. And, that’s what I’m protecting,” said Smith.

Jackson works with adults with disabilities and says rent increases aren’t keeping up with their incomes.

“They’re on fixed incomes and I’m seeing their rents get increased and landlords not taking into consideration they’re not getting more money,” said Jackson.

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Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

Published

4 days ago

July 5, 2026

Oakland Post

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Inaugural Juneteenth Awards Ceremony Celebrates the Fillmore’s Black History, Leadership and Resilience

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, Pastor Emeritus of Third Baptist Church, SF Mayor Daniel Lurie. Photo by Linda Parker Pennington.

By Linda Parker Pennington

The Fillmore Community Ambassadors held its first annual Juneteenth Wesley Johnson White Horse Awards ceremony on June 19 inside the newly reopened Fillmore Heritage Center.

The event featured awards for former San Francisco mayors London Breed and Willie Brown, along with Third Baptist Church Pastor Emeritus, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown.

The Koret Heritage lobby at the newly reopened center at 1330 Fillmore St. held a standing-room-only, culturally diverse and multi-generational audience while the art gallery featured photos of Fillmore community members in action, red Japanese lanterns, art and calligraphy, and Chinese artwork, giving the space a multicultural feel.

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood acknowledged that “the Fillmore community has had a difficult history. Thanks to Rev. Amos Brown’s continuous focus on accountability and resistance, you hold us accountable and continue to inspire us.”

Mahmoud is referring to the Fillmore’s Japanese residents who were forced from their homes and sent to concentration camps during World War II. Black people occupied those homes until the return of their Japanese neighbors and then gave them back, while homes that had been unoccupied were lost. The presence of the Asian community on Juneteenth is a testament to that shared history.

In receiving his honor, Amos Brown elicited a powerful spontaneous call-and-response, where members of San Francisco’s many Black churches proudly shouted out the names: “Bethel AME! Providence Baptist! Jones Memorial! Glide!”

Awards program Master of Ceremonies Shawn Richards of Brothers Against Guns warmly introduced Breed, highlighting her many accomplishments, particularly on “March 16, 2020, when she became the first mayor to shut down a major U.S. city due to COVID-19, saving thousands of lives.”

The audience was captivated by Breed’s emotional speech touching on past traumas, present conditions, and future hopes for the neighborhood where she grew up.

She recalled another trauma of the neighborhood during the City’s redevelopment era in the 1960s, where Black residents were forced to move with a promise of being able to return that was largely unfulfilled.

“We remember when this land was just a field because they bulldozed hundreds of Victorian homes that Black people owned. They built the Fillmore Center, where most Black people can’t afford to live or start their own business. But we are still here.”