City council approves stronger tenant safeguards in Oceanside

OCEANSIDE, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) -- Oceanside City Council voted 3-2 to approve a new tenant protection ordinance aimed at strengthening safeguards for renters amid rising housing pressures.

The ordinance, passed after a meeting where more than 50 people voiced their opinions, expands tenant protections beyond state law to include newer apartments built within the last 15 years.

"Having a safe, stable and affordable place to live isn’t just about a roof over our heads, it's about dignity, security and opportunity," said Ariana Bernard, an Oceanside resident.

Larry Warner, an activist with People of Peace and Justice, stated, "Tenant protections as a way to also curb homelessness because we’re keeping people in their home."

Molly Kirkland from the Southern California Rental Housing Association expressed concerns, saying, "Before just going and adding more regulation unfortunately regulation does have impacts it pushes the smaller landlords out and then you create that self-fulfilling prophecy with large corporations."

Under the new ordinance, tenants who have occupied a unit for at least six months will receive expanded protections, a change from the one-year requirement outlined by state law.

Landlords are now required to provide tenants with summaries of their rights when signing new leases, a move supporters believe will help create housing stability.

Despite the new ordinance, the council did not address rent stabilization, a topic raised by many during the meeting.

Larry Warner highlighted the issue of rising rents in Oceanside, noting, "In Oceanside the rents have gone up extraordinarily in the last few years and personally I couldn’t afford to rent here right now but I got in early so I can make, but my son and his two kids live with us."

The tenant protection ordinance will be brought up at the council’s next meeting for a second reading and is set to take effect 30 days after approval.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KSWB. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KSWB staff before being published.