Page One

Measure Y is among the most debated ballot measures in the city. Its aim is to protect seniors and the disabled from being dislodged when owners move into units which belong to them. Tenant activists say the measure is necessary to protect vulnerable people from being tossed into the streets, while property owners argue that the measure makes these individuals even more vulnerable – landlords will choose to rent to nondisabled students and dot-commers rather than the elderly and disabled. 

Measure Y prohibits landlords from moving in and evicting a person 60 years or older who has lived in a building for five years or more, or a disabled person who has lived in the building five years or more. 

Landlords are also prohibited from moving in and evicting any person who has lived in the building for five years, when the landlord owns multiple units, defined as having 10 percent or greater ownership interest in five or more residential units in Berkeley. 

The landlord (or spouse, parent or child) who evicts a tenant must move into the property within three months of the eviction and stay there 36 months. 

A landlord who owns a comparable vacant unit in Berkeley must use that unit for himselfor his relatives. If the landlord owns a unit that is not comparable and is vacant, the unit must be offered to the