California Rent Control Bill Clears Senate
A bill that would establish statewide rent control in California cleared the Senate today on a 25 to 10 vote and after about 30 minutes of debate.
Assembly Bill 1482 would bar landlords from hiking rents more than 5 percent, plus local inflation, in one year, in cities that don’t already have rent control laws. Lawmakers who support the measure say it would provide immediate relief to renters amid a statewide housing crisis that has fueled a wave of homelessness.
“We can not build our way out of this crisis fast enough, and meanwhile, we have more and more working Californians, families, regular people, who are being displaced from their residences,” said Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley). “I don’t want any more to be displaced. My heart can’t take it.”
But critics argue the measure would ultimately stymie construction of new housing, when California—and Los Angeles—desperately need more of it. They also say it will hurt mom and pop landlords who have “sweat” and “toiled” to buy property and rely on rental income.
“Rent control is not the answer to our housing shortage. While it may be needed in an emergency, it might make things worse in the long run,” says Sen. Steve Glazer (D-Contra Costa).
But the bill would not apply to buildings that opened within the past 15 years, and it would exempt single-family homes, unless they’re owned by a corporation, and duplexes where the owner lives in one of the units.
In cities such as Los Angeles that do have rent control policies, AB 1482 would cover units that are not already protected. Because LA’s rent control law only applies to buildings constructed before 1978, the bill would cover several hundred thousand newer units that opened in the nearly three decades from 1978 to 2004. (In the city of Los Angeles, rents are capped at 4 percent this year.)
The bill is modeled after a proposal from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation, which found a cap of 5 percent, plus Consumer Price Index, would “provide meaningful protection” against “the most egregious rent increases.”
Assemblymember David Chiu (D-San Francisco), who authored the bills, says it would also allow property owners to continue making profits. He points to data prepared by Housing Now that show “the median annual rent increase in California is far below this proposed cap.”
It’s also far below the amount that property owners have raised rents in Los Angeles County, where rents are up about 2 percent year over year, according to real estate tracker CoStar.
AB 1482 now faces one final test before it heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom—who supports the bill—for final approval. Before it gets to his desk, it must pass through the Assembly again before the end of the Legislative session on Friday.
The Assembly already approved a “weaker” version of the bill in in May, when the rent cap proposal was 7 percent, plus inflation. But the legislation was amended at the end of August at the governor’s request, and now must be reapproved in that house with the changes.
A spokesperson for Chiu has acknowledged that the Assembly will prove a tougher fight.
If ultimately adopted, the law would be in effect until 2030.
Author: Jenna Chandler
Source: Curbed LA