Rallies Support Changing California Rent Law

OAKLAND, CA — Elected officials and rent control activists rallied in Oakland and other locations around the state Monday to place on the November ballot a measure that would repeal a 1995 law that limits cities' ability to impose residential rent control.

Supporters of the Affordable Housing Act, which would repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, said they have submitted 588,000 signatures, many more than the 402,000 total needed to place the measure on
the ballot.

The California Secretary of State will now have a month to determine if there are enough valid signatures to put the measure on the November ballot.

Costa-Hawkins allows landlords in cities with rent control, including San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and several others in the Bay Area, to raise the price of a unit to market rate whenever a tenant moves out. It also bans cities from imposing any rent caps on units built after February 1995.

At a rally in front of Oakland City Hall, Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan said, "Skyrocketing rents are causing suffering for families and community. Neighborhood cohesion is undermined and our communities struggle
to attract and retain teachers, nurses, and other vital workers who can't afford rising rents."

Kaplan said, "There are so many people who can no longer afford to live in the places where they work."

Kaplan said it's time to repeal Costa-Hawkins "so cities can protect the most vulnerable people," who she said are renters who are in danger of being evicted from their apartments.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Delaine Eastin said, "California ranks 49th out of the 50 states in the number of housing units per person and we're in a housing crisis in which people are suffering like we've never seen before."

Eastin said Costa-Hawkins would increase the number of housing units in the state but she said "the exact opposite has happened."

Eastin said, "We should give cities the right to have rent control."

Oakland City Councilman Dan Kalb said if the Affordable Housing Act passes, vacancy controls would not automatically be imposed because cities and counties would have to make that decision individually. The same is true for imposing price caps on post-1995 construction.

Kalb said he thinks Costa-Hawkins should be repealed "because local jurisdictions should be able to decide on their own what protections they need for renters.

Kalb said passing the Affordable Housing Act "will give tools to cities and counties around the state to address the housing affordability problem."

The California Apartment Association, which opposes the proposed ballot measure, says Costa-Hawkins "protects property owners of all sizes from radical, local rent control measures."

In a statement on its website, the association said, "This protection prevents local governments from regulating and setting rents on single-family homes, individually owned condominiums and townhouses."

The association says the vacancy decontrol provision of Costa-Hawkins is important because, "When vacancy controls are in place, owners of rent-controlled housing are forever prohibited from resetting rents to market rates, even after changes in tenancy."

— Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock