Council Steams Ahead With “Renters’ Rights Agenda”

City Council added two more items last Thursday to what some members are calling the "renters' rights agenda," which will protect tenant organizing from landlord retaliation and provide a "right to cure" when a landlord initiates an eviction. The right to cure, an amendment to city code, will make permanent renter protections that were established early in the COVID-19 pandemic. The updated ordinance gives tenants seven days to correct a lease violation once a landlord files a notice to vacate with a tenant. Under the Texas Property Code, renters must be given at least three days to "cure" the violation that led the landlord to initiate eviction – such as paying back rent or late fees.

Council's local extension of the state's guarantee to seven days is a compromise between advocates for both sides. Groups supporting renters, like the Austin Justice Coalition and Building and Strengthening Tenant Action, along with Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, had pushed for a 21-day right-to-cure period; the Austin Apartment Association argued that would be much too long and could put some landlords out of business. AJC and BASTA, on the other hand, argue that preventing housing displacement is the most effective way to combat homelessness; giving renters more time to pay what they owe before being evicted can avert future costs to the community. The compromise establishes the seven­-day right-to-cure period as, essentially, a six-month pilot program. At the end of that time, Council will convene with stakeholders to negotiate any updates to the ordinance.

Council also adopted an ordinance intended to protect tenants' right to organize by creating a new offense in city code that would punish landlords who "interfere" with organizing efforts, including talking with neighbors about forming a tenants union, posting materials about a union, and inviting an outside tenants group to talk with residents about their rights.

The right for renters to organize tenant groups is technically protected under state law, but the protections are scant. The updated city ordinance, authored by CM Chito Vela, would make any retaliatory action taken by landlords a misdemeanor crime. As Vela described, that means city attorneys would be in charge of pursuing cases against landlords – previously, tenants could only win relief under state law by filing civil suit, something that many renters don't have the time or money to do.

Council meets today, Nov. 3, for the last time before Election Day. On that agenda: a vote to establish the tax increment reinvestment zone that will help fund the huge Colony Park Sustainable Community in Northeast Austin, as well as continued deliberation over a resolution from CM Kathie Tovo that offers a lengthy list of guidelines for staff to use when attempting to partner with organizations on redevelopment of city-owned property.