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Relocation Assistance Ordinance 

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On February 14, 2017, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors adopted an ordinance requiring landlords to make relocation payments to tenants who are displaced from their rental units when a unit is deemed uninhabitable. Property owners will be responsible for such payments when they are responsible for the code violation, such as when a substandard unit that should not have been occupied in the first place, or when the property owner causes or fails to correct serious code violations that are not the responsibility of the tenants. Tenants can use the payment to help cover some of the costs of finding replacement housing. Displacement is linked to health consequences, including increased stress and disruption of social supports and job stability. Also, when people have to find housing far away and travel long distances to work, it damages air quality and increases inactivity, congestion, asthma, and other respiratory diseases. Find more local housing data here.