California doesn’t need another rent control ballot measure. Vote no on Proposition 21
California has the second-highest rents in the nation, just behind Hawaii. California’s median rent as of 2016 was $1,297 per month. Median rental costs in the Bay Area and coastal Southern California are even higher.
It is not surprising that from 2016 to 2019, there were 17 local ballot measures to expand or increase rent control in 14 jurisdictions in California. Of those proposals, seven were approved, while 10 were defeated.
Rental costs are a key factor in the state’s housing crisis, so much so that Gov. Gavin Newsom last year signed AB 1482, a measure that placed a cap on how much landlords could charge tenants.
Now certain housing advocates are concerned that a tsunami of evictions will hit California in the wake of job losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The solution, they argue, is Proposition 21 on the November ballot.
Backed by $16.7 million in donations by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and its president, Michael Weinstein, supporters of Prop. 21 argue that it is a much-needed way to limit rent increases and keep tenants in their housing.
By controlling how much rents can go up, proponents say affordable housing will be preserved, thus helping low-income residents, including seniors.
Without it, Prop. 21 backers say evictions will be widespread as the pandemic lingers on and homelessness will increase.
Opponents point out that AB 1482 is already a form of statewide rent control and that the new measure is not needed. If approved, detractors say Prop. 21 will discourage the construction of new multifamily housing that is sorely lacking in California.
Voters rejected Prop. 10
Two years ago California voters soundly defeated Proposition 10, a rent-control measure backed by Weinstein. He later told the governor and Legislature that if they did not enact a law he thought would be effective, he would qualify a new measure. That is now Prop. 21.
It would go beyond the key existing legislation controlling rent, the Costa-Hawkins Law, to allow cities and counties to place rent controls on units more than 15 years old.
Under the proposal, rents could be hiked no more than 15 percent during the first three years after a new renter moves in.
Affordable housing impact
Typically when an affordable housing project is built, most of the units have affordable rents, while a smaller number are rented at market rate.
Those market-rate units help the landlord afford to offer less expensive ones.
But under the rent control being proposed, the incentive to build market-rate units could disappear. That, in turn, could lead builders to avoid such projects, worsening the housing crunch.
To be sure, all kinds of housing types are badly needed in California. Over the last decade, the state has seen about 80,000 new homes built each year, far short of the projected need of 180,000 new homes annually, according to the state’s Housing and Community Development Department.
Recommendation: Vote no
A key argument supporters have for Prop. 21 is that it will maintain housing for those in critical need. Without restrictions on rents going up, they argue, evictions are sure to increase, especially with how the pandemic is wrecking the economy.
But tenants get evicted for lots of reasons, not just because they cannot make rent.
Further, AB 1482 has tenant protections: It requires landlords to have just cause to evict renters.
The state’s major need is for more housing. Prop. 21’s backers say their measure is not meant to address that shortage. But if approved, it would discourage builders from creating new rental housing.
Give California’s political leaders credit for approving a statewide rent-control measure that is the toughest in the country.
The best course, for now, is to give AB 1482 a chance to work. The McClatchy California Opinion Editors recommend a no vote on Proposition 21.
This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
