Rent control expansion defeated

A ballot measure that would have allowed cities to expand rent control was defeated Tuesday despite widespread concern in California about high rents.

Proposition 10 fell behind early and continued to trail by a margin of about 65 percent to 35 percent throughout the night. Takeaway: Pre-election polls suggested Prop. 10 faced long odds, despite growing concern statewide about a housing crisis that has priced out renters. Opponents said allowing rent control to spread would take housing off the market, making things worse for renters. They outspent proponents 3 to 1 to deliver their message. Background: Prop. 10 would have repealed the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, a 1995 state law limiting the type of rent control that cities can impose. The law bars cities from capping rents on housing built after it took effect. The restriction extends before 1995 in cities such as San Francisco that had rent control at the time. The law also forbids cities from capping prices when a unit becomes vacant and from imposing rent control on single-family homes.

Under Prop. 10, local governments would not have been bound by those restrictions and could have decided which rent controls are appropriate for their cities.

The measure was placed on the ballot by tenant advocates who had failed for years to persuade the state Legislature to try to curb ever-rising rents. California renters pay 50 percent more for housing than renters in other states, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Opponents, led by the California Apartment Association, developers and property managers, spent $74 million to convince voters that developers would cut back on construction if rent control spread. Proponents raised $26 million, nearly all from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.