City of Mountain View  
Minutes  
Rental Housing Committee  
Monday, October 16, 2023  
7:00 PM  
Council Chambers and Video Conference, 500  
Castro St., Mountain View, CA 94041  
1.  
CALL TO ORDER  
The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m.  
2.  
ROLL CALL  
5 -  
Present  
Chair Edie Keating, Vice Chair Guadalupe Rosas, Member Robert Cox, Member Kevin Ma, and  
Alternate Alex Brown  
3.  
CONSENT CALENDAR  
SPEAKING FROM THE FLOOR WITH COMMENTS:  
No public comments received.  
MOTION: M/S - Cox/Brown - To approve the Consent Calendar.  
Yes:  
5 - Chair Keating, Vice Chair Rosas, Member Cox, Member Ma, and Alternate Brown  
Minutes for the September 25, 2023, RHC Meeting  
3.1  
4.  
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC  
No public comments received.  
5.  
APPEAL HEARINGS  
Appeal of Hearing Officer's Decision Regarding Petition No. 22230030  
5.1  
Nazanin Salehi, Special Counsel, Goldfarb and Lipman, presented an oral report and responded to questio  
SPEAKING FROM THE FLOOR WITH COMMENTS:  
No public comments received.  
PRESENTATION AND ARGUMENTS BY APPELLANT-LANDLORD - Elaine Tai  
PRESENTATION AND ARGUMENTS BY RESPONDENT-TENANT - Siamak Yaghoubzadeh  
PRESENTATION AND ARGUMENTS BY APPELLANT-LANDLORD - Elaine Tai  
PRESENTATION AND ARGUMENTS BY RESPONDENT-TENANT - Siamak Yaghoubzadeh  
MOTION: M/S - Cox/Brown - To accept the Tentative Appeal Decision regarding Petition No. 22230030 in its  
entirety.  
Yes:  
5 - Chair Keating, Vice Chair Rosas, Member Cox, Member Ma, and Alternate Brown  
6.  
STUDY SESSION  
6.1 Study Session: Rent and the Treatment of Utilities in the CSFRA and Ratio  
Utility Billing Systems  
Program Manager van Deursen presented a report and responded to questions.  
SPEAKING FROM THE FLOOR WITH COMMENTS:  
Regan Avery  
Anil Babbar, speaking on behalf of 5 attendees  
Oceana Vallancourt  
Emily  
Tessa McFarland  
Jesse Cupp  
Pam  
Delores Monik Rosas Berumen  
Philip Cosby  
Sandra Esparza  
Maricela Choque, translations provided by Sandra Esparza  
Jeff Zell  
Andrew Bonin  
Steve Welter  
In order to provide guidance to staff to draft regulations to clarify rent and the treatment of utilities in the  
CSFRA and Ratio Utility Billing Systems, the RHC conducted a straw poll on the following  
recommendations:  
1. Carries 5-0 in favor of draft regulations clarifying prohibition of using RUBS or similar systems to bill utility  
charges associated with the use and occupancy of CSFRA-covered units.  
2. Carried 5-0 in favor of option B: the lesser of a) a calculation of average utility costs per room; and b) the  
sum of all applicable Santa Clara County Housing Authority Utility Allowances. The RHC is also interested in  
staff coming back with additional options that considers common areas.  
3. Carries 4-0-1 in favor of adopting an administrative process to review the One-Time Utility Adjustment  
Petitions forms.  
4. Carries 5-0 in favor of having staff examine a sample of the rent adjustment petitions for each property to  
ensure that the rent adjustments are properly calculated and send landlord and all affected tenant(s) a  
confirmation letter.  
5. Carried 5-0 in favor of having staff review One-Time Utility Adjustment Petitions.  
6. Carried 5-0 in favor of adopting proposed deadlines for submission of One-Time Utility Adjustment  
Petitions:  
a. >20 units: Within 6 months of launch of Offset Petition process  
b. 6-20 units: Within 9 months of launch of Offset Petition process  
c. 1-5 units: Within 12 months of launch of Offset Petition process  
7. Carries 5-0 in favor of including a provision in the draft regulations pausing the filing and processing of any  
tenant petitions based solely on RUBS until after the deadline for submission of the One-Time Utility  
Adjustment Petition has expired.  
8. 4-1 in opposition of Including a provision in the draft regulations to require landlords to refund excess rent  
to any tenants who have overpaid due to the use of RUBS for a period of 4 (four) years.  
The Rental Housing Committee took a recess at 9:57 P.M.  
The Rental housing Committee reconvened at 10:03 P.M.  
7.  
NEW BUSINESS  
7.1 Amendments to CSFRA Regulations Chapter 5 and MHRSO Regulations  
Chapter 6 Hearing Procedure: Hearing Timeline  
Amend CSFRA Regulations Chapter 5: Hearing Procedure and MHRSO Regulations Chapter 6: Hearing  
Procedure, to revise existing timelines in the petition process.  
Senior Management Analyst Black presented a report and responded to questions.  
SPEAKING FROM THE FLOOR WITH COMMENTS:  
No public comment received.  
MOTION: M/S - Rosas/ Brown - To amend CSFRA Regulations Chapter 5: Hearing Procedure and MHRSO  
Regulations Chapter 6: Hearing Procedure, to revise existing timelines in the petition process.  
Yes:  
5 - Chair Keating, Vice Chair Rosas, Member Cox, Member Ma, and Alternate Brown  
8.  
COMMITTEE/STAFF ANNOUNCEMENTS, UPDATES, REQUESTS, AND COMMITTEE REPORTS  
Upcoming Workshops and Housing and Eviction Help Center Dates  
8.1  
Analyst Kennedy presented a report and responded to questions.  
Expected Future Agenda Items for RHC Meetings:  
8.2  
Saturday October 21, 11am-2pm RHC Workshop, at Michaels Restaurant, Shoreline, MV  
Vice Chair Rosas thanked staff for their help and hard work.  
9.  
ADJOURNMENT - At 10:30 p.m., Chair Keating adjourned the meeting to the next RHC meeting  
to be held  
on Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. at Michaels Restaurant, 2940 North Shoreline Blvd.  
Submitted for approval by Andrea Kennedy  
RHC Approval on 11/13/2023