Who’s Living in Pleasant Hill? A Closer Look at Rentals, Ownership, and the Town’s Future
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019–2023 American Community Survey, 73.2% of homes in Pleasant Hill are lived in by their owners, while almost 26.8% are rentals. That’s typical for small towns, where rental rates usually fall between 25% and 35%.
But lately, some residents have started to worry that the number of rentals in town is rising faster than before, especially since 2023. They believe it’s something the community should pay attention to.
At the Pleasant Hill City Council meeting on April 28, 2025, longtime resident John Self voiced his concerns. He pointed out that census data might not always tell the whole story. For example, if one person owns a building with multiple rental units, the census may still count it as just one owner-occupied property, even if all the units are rented.
This is important because understanding the actual number of rentals helps the city make better decisions. Rentals aren’t necessarily bad. They give people more housing options, especially those who can’t or don’t want to buy a home. Turning empty homes into rentals has even helped save properties from falling apart in some places.
But if a town becomes mostly rentals, it can create some challenges.
A Local Example: The Boardman Street Debate
Pleasant Hill, a growing town, is now discussing precisely this issue. At the April 28 city council meeting, a discussion sparked a proposal to rezone a vacant lot on Boardman Street from R-1 (single-family homes) to R-2 (duplexes).
The request came from Ethan Stanfield of Stanfield Homes, who bought the lot last year. He said he wanted to build a quality duplex on the property and noted that he’s already built over 32 homes in the area.
Ethan Stanfield of Stanfield Homes
John Self raised a question that reflected the concerns of some residents:
“Why should we assume you’re going to keep this one, instead of selling it to someone else?”
Resident John Self
The council was split—two members voted yes, two voted no. That left it up to Mayor John King to break the tie. He voted no, and the rezoning was denied.
Mayor and Council Members
During the discussion, Mayor King expressed concern about the growing number of rental properties in town.
In response to why he voted no, John King said, “That is a complex question. I support planned multi-family developments. Building a random duplex in an established neighborhood always gives me pause. I felt the lot in this case was better suited for a small single-family dwelling. Additionally, there was a question about previous multi-family dwellings that were built by the applicant and then sold to a company. I believe that maintaining local ownership of rentals is vital to both the tenants and the community.”
The Risks of Too Many Rentals
This debate isn’t just happening in Pleasant Hill. Small towns across the country face the same questions. If rentals make up too much of the housing market, can affect property values, economic development, and locals getting priced out according to former Mayor, Mark Guffy, who is on a mission to solve this problem from a federal to a local level.
According to Guffy, cities should stop spot-zoning and create ordinances to help ward off unwanted rental properties.
Image from Facebook
A Town at a Turning Point
The recent city council meeting showed that the conversation about housing in Pleasant Hill concerns more than one building or one lot. It’s about what kind of town people want to live in. Do we want a place full of short-term renters and out-of-town landlords, or a community where families can put down roots and build a future? Rentals can attract new residents, provide affordable options for local workers, use empty lots, and add to the tax base, and the balance of rentals and ownership needs to be monitored.
There’s no simple answer, but one thing is clear: Pleasant Hill’s choices today will help shape what it looks like tomorrow.