In the last two years, San Jose officials have debated stronger tenant protections in Silicon Valley nine times — from requiring landlords to pay relocation benefits to adopting protections against no-cause evictions. But one sticking point remains: Determining how much landlords can raise rent in San Jose’s 44,359 rent-controlled units.
On Tuesday, hundreds of renters urged the City Council to support a proposal to tie rent hikes to the Bay Area consumer price index — which has ranged from 2.1 percent to 2.8 percent in the last five years. They said the current 5 percent cap is too high and renters are being squeezed out of one of the nation’s costliest rental markets. The city’s rent control law only applies to units built before 1979.
