Half Moon Bay Repeals Rent Stabilization, Pivots to Service-Based Tenant Support

Half Moon Bay's City Council voted 3-2 to begin dismantling the coastal city's two-year-old rent stabilization and rental registration programs, then spent the rest of a nearly four-hour meeting debating what replaces them. The evening laid bare a philosophical divide: whether tenants are best protected by regulation or by direct services funded from a $2.1 million housing pot.

• Rent stabilization and rental registry headed for repeal after a 3-2 first reading, with Councilmembers Brownstone and Penrose dissenting

• Council directs staff to build emergency rental assistance and legal services programs using unallocated housing funds, with $100,000 proposed for Coastside Hope

• Rental inspection program tabled as council members clash over whether voluntary inspections can reach the most vulnerable tenants

• $25,000 LED screen purchase for World Cup watch parties delayed after all five council members request more due diligence

• Two-year priorities workplan punted to subcommittee after members say the 60-item document mixes staff tasks with council goals

The basics: Half Moon Bay adopted its residential rent stabilization (Chapter 6.06) and rental registration (Chapter 6.04) programs in 2024 — regulatory tools designed to cap rent increases and give the city a picture of its rental housing stock. On April 21, at the direction the council gave at its March 17 meeting, Interim City Attorney Denise Bazzano brought back an ordinance to repeal both chapters outright.