Berkeley Doubles Down on Streets, Sends Rent Reforms to Voters

The Berkeley City Council on July 7 adopted its most ambitious street paving plan in city history and unanimously placed rent stabilization amendments on the November 2026 ballot — two sweeping actions that will reshape how the city maintains its infrastructure and regulates its rental market. A contentious 7-2 vote to study RV parking regulations exposed a familiar fault line between enforcement and housing-first approaches to homelessness.

• $130M street plan to pave 65 miles in five years, combining baseline revenues with Measure FF parcel tax funds and doubling the city's prior pace
• Rent stabilization amendments headed to November 2026 ballot, capping banked rent increases at 10% per year and expanding tenant organizing rights
• RV parking study advances 7-2 over objections from the mayor and homelessness advocates who say enforcement outpaces housing solutions
• Police data-sharing safeguards confirmed: Berkeley does not share license plate reader data with the regional NCRIC fusion center, unlike San Francisco
• AC Transit warns of $200M deficit and up to 16% service cuts by June 2027 without new regional funding

The council unanimously approved a five-year plan to pave 65 centerline miles — more than 400 street segments — by combining an $88.6 million baseline program with over $40 million from Measure FF, the voter-approved parcel tax targeting the city's worst roads.