The Salinas City Council has backed away from its plan to repeal renter protections after residents gathered enough signatures to challenge the move.
In a 6-1 vote Tuesday, the Salinas City Council decided to leave four tenant protection ordinances in place, including rent caps, eviction safeguards, and anti-harassment rules. The decision came after a referendum effort by the group Protect Salinas Renters 2026, which collected enough signatures to either overturn the council’s repeal from earlier this summer, or place the issue before voters in an upcoming election.
Mayor Dennis Donohue said putting the decision on the ballot would not resolve the underlying tensions.
“I'm not particularly in favor of putting something that everybody agrees is not perfect, particularly technical, on a ballot and I think there's an obligation to avoid spending taxpayer dollars if at all possible,” Donohue said at a city council meeting Tuesday.
He also acknowledged the need to build trust between renters, landlords and city leaders.
“I'm hearing people are having a difficult time with trust, but even if we do a straight repeal, we didn't solve the trust issue. And the only way you solve trust issues — and I regret that I didn't sit down with the Housing Coalition earlier.”
Property owners argue the current rules make it harder to offer sustainable housing for tenants, pointing to costly enrollment and development fees. Renters say the protections are vital to keep them away from rent hikes and unfair evictions.
Meanwhile, city staff have also emphasized in previous council meetings that Salinas must build more than 6,000 new housing units in the next six years to meet state-mandated goals, and claim these ordinances make those efforts difficult. Failing to meet that target could jeopardize access to future state housing grants.
Instead of moving forward with an election, the council voted to create a committee of tenants and property owners to look for common ground. The group is expected to present its recommendations when the council takes up the issue again on Sept. 23.
