I partnered with community members and my colleagues to put Measure BB on the November 2024 ballot, which expanded tenant protections and created a legal pathway for recognizing tenant unions. Since the voters passed Measure BB, hundreds of tenants around Berkeley have organized tenant unions, many of whom had the support of the Berkeley Tenant Organizing Task Force, a joint initiative of my office, the Berkeley Tenants Union, and East Bay Democratic Socialists of America.
This ordinance ensures that when a building with sitting tenants is demolished, the tenants must receive relocation support while the building is being reconstructed and mandates that the tenant be offered a unit in the new building at the same price of their previous unit. It also requires that developers build an affordable housing unit for each low-income and rent controlled unit in the demolished building. This legislation is a significant win because it ensures that longtime renters are not displaced in the process of building much-needed new homes.
Prohibiting AI Pricing
I worked with members of the Housing Advisory Commission, Berkeley Rent Board staff, the City Attorney’s Office, and my colleagues to pass an ordinance banning the use of coordinated pricing algorithms by landlords. Many landlords use these technologies to coordinate and fix prices, resulting in higher rents for Berkeley renters.
UPDATE: This ordinance’s implementation has been delayed until 2026 as the City defends itself from legal attacks by corporate interests.
The new in-lieu fee structure strikes the balance between continuing to ensure developers support our communities in addressing the housing crisis and making building more housing fiscally viable. It ensures that if developers opt out of building onsite affordable housing, they must pay into the affordable housing trust fund used to build permanent supportive housing. I made a motion to request that City staff return to Council with a study demonstrating the feasibility of charging fees on new construction of single family homes—in addition to new multi unit developments—that directly go toward affordable housing development.
Housing and homelessness are some of the most critical issues our city faces right now. This referral intends to identify a site for our unhoused neighbors to live with adequate services and resources and without the fear of displacement. This would provide a space where individuals could safely park their RV’s and bring their belongings into a City sanctioned, funded, and run shelter.
Assembly Bill 413 prohibits parking within 20 feet of any crosswalk to increase pedestrian visibility and safety across the state. This is a State mandated, locally administered law, meaning that the funding responsibility falls on local municipalities to paint curbs and construct preventative infrastructure. This budget referral ensures those things get done.
I gave $10,000 from my office budget to support Street Spirit’s critical work. Street Spirit is a newspaper written by unhoused people offering insight into the experiences of living on the streets in the East bay. This money will not go toward the writing or publication of the newspaper, it will instead help fund the ongoing efforts at Street Spirit’s Drop in Center that offers resources, services, and goods necessary to the survival of our unhoused community members.
The Missing Middle legislation was first brought to council in 2019 by former Councilmember Lori Droste and passed unanimously in July 2025. It increases the number of housing units allowed on lots that previously were low-density residential zones. I co-sponsored the recommendation to increase the dwelling unit per acre maximum, making the development of these homes financially and operationally feasible.