Redwood City partners with Project Sentinel for dispute resolution pilot project

The two-year contract will have Project Sentinel conduct educational workshops for tenants and landlords, and have annual goals of serving 75 people through counseling, education information and referrals and to conduct five conciliations performed by professional mediators. 

The partnership was proposed as the city awaits impacts of possible ballot measures related to rent control.

In December 2023, a citizen sponsored ballot was submitted to the City Clerk’s Office calling for additional rent control and just cause eviction limits in the city. The petition is in circulation and proponents expressed an intent to file the petition this month, according to Housing Management Analyst Victor Gaitan. 

Councilmembers voted to pause additional efforts related to tenant protection and mobile home activities outlined in the ADS until the first quarter of 2025. Housing staff will now focus on other approved work plan priorities. 

Vice Mayor Lissette Espinoza-Garnica said they support the pausing of these efforts because if the initiative is placed on the November ballot and approved, its new framework could make any efforts in the meantime obsolete.  

“I don’t think it’s the best use of city staff time to try and invest on a model that they may have to undo by the end of the year,” Espinoza-Garnica said. “Delaying it for early 2025 seems reasonable.”

Councilmember Elmer Martínez Saballos said he believes the dispute resolution pilot project helps relieve concern over postponing the tenant protection efforts. 

“I do think that with Project Sentinel, working and collaborating with the city, we are going to meet lots of the demands and issues in the interim,” Martínez Saballos said. “I think this will be a good solution while we wait to see what happens in November.” 

The ADS has been able to accomplish other goals since its establishment in 2022, including its Affordable Housing Preservation program. This over-the-counter displacement prevention fund currently has $6.8 million available and the city anticipates receiving its first application in coming weeks. 

Additionally, other funding opportunities for mobile homes have been established throughout the county that align with the intent and goals of the ADS. 

Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco received a CalHOME funding award of $1.5 million for the preservation of mobile homes in San Mateo County. This program will launch this summer and will serve 15 mobile home owners with loans of about $100,000 each for the rehabilitation and preservation of their mobile homes. 

“While this program is not directly associated with the ADS and is not being implemented by the city, it addresses needs and furthers goals identified in the ADS around the importance of preserving mobile homes,” Gaitan said. “When the program is officially launched, the city will work with Habitat for Humanity to notify mobile homeowners of this resource.”

In other business, the City Council voted to establish a permanent pedestrian mall on Broadway between Jefferson Avenue and Main Street and on Redwood Creek between the Main Street Parking Lot and the Marshall Garage. The budget was increased by $400,000 for contract costs associated with its construction, which is estimated to be completed by early 2025 if approved at the items second reading June 10.