Ballot Measure 10 - Rent Control Related
Proposition 10 would repeal the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act.
This is the law that EXEMPTS apartments newer than 1995 construction and single family homes and (I think) duplexes from rent control. The law prohibited rent control on newly constructed buildings, single-family homes and condominium units. It also guaranteed the owners of existing rent-controlled buildings the right to raise the rent on a unit to market value for new tenants when the former tenants moved out.
So this is a very big deal and could vastly expand rent control, but only in cities and counties that choose to adopt rent control. They would no longer be restricted only to restricting rents on buildings older than 1995.
( current polls seem to show this is likely to lose )
Developers and business interests are strongly opposed, of course.
Measure 10 Language on the ballot:
EXPANDS LOCAL GOVERNMENTS’ AUTHORITY TO ENACT RENT CONTROL ON
RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
Repeals state law that currently restricts the scope of rent-control policies that cities and other
local jurisdictions may impose on residential property.
More Info on Ballotpedia here
Re: Ballot Measure 10 - Rent Control Related
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by MikeH:
Proposition 10 would repeal the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act.
This is the law that EXEMPTS apartments newer than 1995 construction and single family homes and (I think) duplexes from rent control. The law prohibited rent control on newly constructed buildings, single-family homes and condominium units. It also guaranteed the owners of existing rent-controlled buildings the right to raise the rent on a unit to market value for new tenants when the former tenants moved out.
....
More Info on Ballotpedia here
When I lived in Berkeley in the late 70s and early 80s rent control was voted in. Within a few years there were no single family houses for rent as owners didn't want to get stuck under the law. Soon a two tier class of tenant appeared, one protected under rent control and enjoying below market rents and another paying above market rents due to vacancy decontrol. This has happened in The City as well. Show me a place where rent control has worked for anyone other than the protected class of tenant who never moves out.
Re: Ballot Measure 10 - Rent Control Related
There are pluses and minuses with rent control.
The pluses, it preserves affordable housing, and in cities like SF and Santa Monica, maintains the diversity that lower income people provide.
The minuses, analysis has indicated, rent control raises rents for those not living in rent controlled apartments. Since people in rent controlled apt stay much longer, those apts are removed from the mix, adding to the shortage, and driving up the rent costs for others. In SF and Santa Monica, rent control also has had the effect of decreasing the number of rental units, as owners sell properties to owner occupiers, rather than continuing to rent them. Also, older complexes, subject to rent control, get torn down and replaced by new condos not subject to rent control, because the older complexes have lost value, as they were subject to rent control, and had less income.
It's a panacea that rent control will have only positive effects. There are winners and losers. Prop N, in Santa Rosa, a $300M bond measure for affordable housing, is entirely positive, as it creates more affordable housing (subsidized by tax incentives to investors). It requires a 2/3 vote, which is a high hurdle.
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by jbox:
When I lived in Berkeley in the late 70s and early 80s rent control was voted in. Within a few years there were no single family houses for rent as owners didn't want to get stuck under the law. Soon a two tier class of tenant appeared, one protected under rent control and enjoying below market rents and another paying above market rents due to vacancy decontrol. This has happened in The City as well. Show me a place where rent control has worked for anyone other than the protected class of tenant who never moves out.
Re: Ballot Measure 10 - Rent Control Related
