Less than a year after that outpaced similar state and local housing laws, some of its most strict regulations have reignited debate.

Concord adopted a hard-won residential tenant protection program

, the city’s newest councilmember, is now caught in the crosshairs — facing accusations that he has prioritized landlords and property owners’ financial demands over efforts to keep lower-income tenants housed and safe.

Pablo Benavente

Concord’s complex set of , increasing “just cause” eviction protections to most of the city’s tenants, establishing rent stabilization for roughly half its rental stock and generally dictating what landlords can do with their units and how renters can respond. For example, property owners cannot increase rents by more than 3% or 60% of current inflation index rates, whichever is lower.

regulations for renters took effect in April

Local tenant organizations started advocating for local rent controls in 2016, citing stats that show renters occupy approximately 40% of all housing units in the city, and nearly half of those residents shell out more than a third of their income on housing costs.

But exactly seven weeks after being sworn in to represent District 4, Benavente quietly requested last month that the city expedite its annual public review of the new rules.

Specifically, the 33-year-old freshman lawmaker, who in the November election, requested that the council re-deliberate its rent cap formula, as well as the rental requirements for single family homes and condos — two of the most popular complaints voters shared on the campaign trail.