Activists rally as Orange moves on rent control
Board directs legal staff to draft ballot question for Nov. 8
Commissioners directed Orange County’s legal staff Thursday to draft a precedent-setting ordinance intended to regulate rent increases at a time when housing advocates and cost-burdened tenants have told them they are being priced out of their homes.
The board faces a tight timeline to get the measure on the Nov. 8 ballot. State law requires voters to approve rent controls.
Elections Supervisor Bill Cowles said in an email he must have the ballot language for the ordinance no later than Aug. 23.
The commission’s direction to move forward with the “rent stabilization” measure, proposed in April by Commissioner Emily Bonilla, followed more than three hours of discussion of the housing crisis and legal obstacles which could block enforcement of the strategy.
She proposed limiting rent increases to 5% or the 12-month average of the Consumer Price Index, whichever is smaller.
But a 14-page memo written by lawyers at Shutts & Bowen for the Florida Apartment Association, shared with commissioners by County Attorney Jeffrey Newton, pointed out that “no Florida jurisdiction has successfully met the exacting factual and legal requirements necessary to validly enact rent control and ... it appears exceedingly unlikely that Orange
County will be the first to do so.”
The state law potentially interfering with Bonilla’s proposal was adopted by Legislators in 1977.
After the work session, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, who said he was concerned about moving ahead with a rent-control ordinance they may not be able to defend legally, said the discussion spawned other ideas which could help renters now struggling to make payments.
“We listened,” he said.
The commission agreed to draft rules requiring landlords to give tenants a 60-day notice of rent increases, create a “Tenant Bill of Rights,” and create an office of “Tenant Advocacy.” The board also endorsed eligibility modifications to allow funds from its Emergency Rental Assistance Program to be used to help renters stay in their homes.
“We’re going to continue to focus on our ‘Housing For All’ plan of action,” Demings said, referring to recommendations suggested by his affordable housing task force. “We know that we have a deficit of available, affordable, attainable workforce housing here in Orange County.”
Bonilla said she viewed the discussion and companion measures as “a success for the people of Orange County.”
Advocates of rent control rallied Thursday morning, appealing to commissioners to put Bonilla’s measure on the ballot.
“Affordable housing and affordable rent should not be a luxury especially when the economy of Orlando and Central Florida are built on the backs of the working poor who need somewhere to stay,” said the Rev. Charles T. Myers of the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist.
He said his parishioners in Washington Shores include service workers struggling with increasing rent.
The average market rate rent in Orlando is $1,799, according to real estate analysts CoStar.
It was $1,397 in February 2020, about a 30% jump over 28 months.
Rent increases above 15-20% can be considered a hardship, qualifying some renters for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, said Dianne Arnold, who runs the county program.
The board didn’t permit public comment at the meeting, though beleaguered tenants and worried landlords have weighed in during earlier meetings, including Tuesday’s. Some used the pre-meeting rally to let commissioners know that tenant groups are watching.
“Instead of addressing the emergency as what it is, our government has listened to the empty words of parasitic landlords, and their promises that the pressing crisis is simply ‘business as usual,’ “said May Beck of Orlando Tenant Power, a recently formed renters association.
She said she moved back to her parents’ home because her landlord wanted to raise her $1,250-a-month rent to $1,550.
Sofia Ortiz, who works as a housekeeper for Walt Disney Co., said she worries about where she will lay her head. Her landlord raised the rent of the one-bedroom apartment in Lake Buena Vista that she shares with a roommate to $1,700, a $300 increase, pricing it out of their range.
She said she is moving out next week.
“If I can’t find something else maybe I will have to live like some of my coworkers do — at Walmart” in the parking lot, she said.
State Reps. Carlos Guillermo Smith and Anna Eskamani also were among those speaking up.
“We’re hearing these stories across our community and, when you adjust for wages, the greater Orlando area is the fifth least affordable place in the country,” Eskamani said.
But some mom-andpop landlords like Connie O’Hanlon have said the measure would hurt small businesses like hers.
“Capping rents hurt small businesses who own rental properties,” she said Tuesday. “It’s also a discriminatory practice because you’re capping prices on one business and not all businesses that provide goods and services.” She said her business costs are increasing too.
Bonilla, who introduced the measure in April, said a rent cap would provide an immediate solution to the crisis.
In a presentation for Thursday’s special session, Bonilla offered a counterpoint to the 54-page analysis prepared by Orlando-based GAI Consultants. The consultants, paid $60,000, concluded that affordability challenges for tenants are driven by issues that “are ... likely beyond the control of local regulation.”
The report blamed higher demand for housing than supply in Orange County.
Bonilla also cited demand from the population explosion in the county as a cause, saying an average of 2,184 new residents move here every month.
She also pointed a finger at “profiteering” by corporate landlords, naming Camden Property Trust and Blue Rock Residential Growth, both of which own complexes in the Orlando area. Blue Rock’s profits were up 1,295% in 2021 and Camden’s about 526%.
Bonilla cited the yearover-year boon for their investors as “proof this is profiteering and not due to cost increases.”
Bonilla’s presentation listed the average Orange County rent by ZIP code as tracked by RentHub, a data site for real estate professionals. The highest average rents were found in the 34786 ZIP, the Windermere area, where the average rent was $2,545, two dollars more than in the 32827 ZIP, an area including Orlando International Airport and fast-growing tech hub Lake Nona.
Price increases in Lake Nona rose the most, nearly 68%.
Other areas with an average rent higher than $2,200 a month included Baldwin Park, Conway, the Disney area and Metro West.
Of the three dozen ZIP codes listed, only Washington Shores west of Camping World Stadium was under $1,200.
Bonilla said the “grave housing emergency” has led to more homelessness in Orange County, citing figures attributed to the Homelessness Services Network of Central Florida, which reported a nearly 50% increase in persons identifying as homeless in the last 12 months.
She said Orange County Public Schools found more children living in shelters, motels, cars, parks and other public spaces. Bonilla said the cost of doing nothing might result in more evictions and a spike in homelessness.
Though rent stabilization lacks legal precedent, she said the board “cannot be paralyzed by this concern.”
“This may not survive a court challenge but we will know that we did everything possible to save our community,” Bonilla said.
Bonilla also provided excerpts of studies suggesting rent controls work at least in the short term.
She quoted from a 2019 analysis by Stanford economists who focused on rent control policy in San Francisco that found “the effects of rent control on tenants are stronger for racial minorities, suggesting rent control helped prevent minority displacement.”
But the economists, Rebecca Diamond, Tim McQuade and Franklin Qian, also found the policy reduced available rental housing.
Some landlords restricted by rent controls got out of the business. “Thus, while rent control prevents displacement of incumbent renters in the short run, the lost rental housing supply likely drove up market rents in the long run, ultimately undermining the goals of the law,” the authors wrote.