Publication Date: Wednesday Jan 18, 1995
East Palo Alto officials are interested in putting limits on the number of people who can occupy homes and apartments in the city.
Several apartment complex owners have told the city that overcrowding is causing problems for them, and City Council members agreed unanimously last week that overcrowding causes difficulties for the city as well.
The Council agreed to set up a task force, with representation from apartment owners and the city's Rent Stabilization Board, to recommend whether the city needs to set limits on the number of people who can occupy individual housing units.
"The idea certainly makes a lot of sense," William Webster of the rent board told the Council at the Jan. 9 meeting. "We have a lot of units that are overcrowded."
For economic reasons, the city is suffering from having too many apartment complexes that are run-down, poorly maintained and have high vacancy rates. The problems are particularly acute in the area west of Bayshore Freeway. But the units that are occupied often have extended families crowded into them, which adds to the wear and tear on buildings.
Richard Herndon, who owns a 30-unit building near the old Ravenswood High School, told the Council that one-third of his units are overcrowded now, and it is a situation difficult to do anything about without a city ordinance.
"It will ease the problem if there is a policy," Herndon said.
The Council agreed.
"It's clear that overcrowding is a major issue," said Council member R.B. Jones.
"We are a small city, and we're bursting at the seems," said Council member Myrtle Walker.
According to the 1990 census, of the family households in the city with two or more members, 35 percent have five or more members living in the same house or apartment. And 15 percent of the families in the city live in households of seven or more family members.
David Miller, the acting director of public works and planning, said overcrowding hurts the city in a number of ways other than wear and tear on the buildings. It also creates parking problems, school overcrowding and heavy demands on water, sewage and city services.
Miller suggested that the task force could look at what other cities have done to address the issue. He added that some apartment owners are interested in the problem, which would be a key to the success of the task force.
"The owners want the dialogue, and this is a good time to do it," Miller said.
But the issue of overcrowding also touches on one of the longest-running and most polarized issues in the city: rent control.
Jones said he didn't want anyone from the city's rent Stabilization Board to be part of the task force, but he was alone on the Council with that sentiment. The rent board is viewed by some apartment owners as pro-tenant and anti-landlord, echoing divisions that have existed in the city since incorporation in 1983.
"That's gone on for years," Jones said, adding that he wanted to keep that battle off the task force. "I want to make sure it is non-political."
City Manager Jerry Groomes will report back to the Council at its Jan. 23 meeting on a timetable and other details for the task force, which will be up to the Council to appoint.
Vice Mayor Sharifa Wilson said she thinks it is important that the task force hold public hearings, that the public hearings be conducted in English and Spanish and that any materials the task force produces also be multilingual because of the large number of Latino tenants in the city.
--Don Kazak