December 4, 2024—San Jose Spotlight City Hall reporter Vicente Vera speaks with Senior Staff Attorney Suzanne Dershowitz regarding a recent audit performed by the San Jose City Auditor that reveals that the tenant protection laws passed by the city in 2017 have no formal process for enforcing the laws.
Suzanne Dershowitz, senior staff attorney for nonprofit Public Advocates, said San Jose should have created a process for enforcing the tenant protection policy so more potential violations can be found.
“It’s important for the city to standardize the process and escalate violations through that administrative enforcement process, as well as use those compliance notices and citations to ultimately scale up to enforcement and hold bad actors accountable when necessary,” Dershowitz told San José Spotlight.
Dershowitz said the lack of punishment or citation for landlords who violate the policy is concerning.
“I found it really troubling that the audit found only seven properties have ever received formal compliance notices for violations of the TPO since it was adopted,” she told San José Spotlight “The report also said that no TPO administrative citations have ever been issued to date.”
