Renters rally to repeal restrictions
Ballot initiative aims to nullify a state law known as Costa Hawkins that allows cities to establish rent control only on older apartments
SACRAMENTO >> Hundreds of tenants and others rallied in Oakland, Los Angeles and Sacramento on Monday as the campaign to overturn California’s decades-old restrictions on rent control say the initiative is likely heading for the November ballot.
The ballot initiative would repeal a state law known as Costa Hawkins that makes it illegal for cities to impose rent control on single-family rentals, condominiums or apartments built after 1995 or in some cases earlier — after a city adopted its first local rent control ordinance.
“The rents are so crazy. They’re going up so high,” said Mari Perez-Ruiz, a social worker and longtime renter who traveled from Alameda to lobby lawmakers on bills aimed at expanding tenant protections. “To me, it’s a moral issue. It’s determining what kind of community we want to be
a part of.”
Supporters say that skyrocketing rents are forcing people out of their homes and into longer commutes — or, increasingly, onto the street — and that cities need more latitude to respond to the crisis.
Opponents led by the California Apartment Association, which represents landlords and developers, counter that stricter rent control rules will only make the problem worse by discouraging development and squeezing the already short supply of rental units.
“It will ultimately harm the very people it is trying to help,” said Stuart Waldman, president of the Southern California Valley Industry and Commerce Association, in a statement Monday. “The only way to solve the housing crisis is to build more.”
But those pushing to repeal the law say that tenants facing eviction need immediate help and can’t wait for the market to change.
Jefferson McGee, an activist and real estate broker, said his father, a landlord, taught him that steep rent increases weren’t necessary to make a living. “We know we don’t have to raise rents,” he told the crowd. “It’s just greed.”
Organizers said they delivered 588,542 signatures to elections officials on Monday for review, far more than the 365,880 required.
CALIFORNIA’S RENT CONTROL LAW, EXPLAINED
What is Costa Hawkins? It’s a decades-old California law that makes it illegal for cities to adopt certain kinds of rent control ordinances.
What are the restrictions? Single family homes and condominiums are exempt from rent control under this state law. So is any apartment built after 1995, when Costa Hawkins was passed, or in some cases much earlier.
If a city adopted rent control in 1980, for example — as Oakland and Berkeley did — then that is the cutoff; everything built afterward is exempt from rent control. Costa Hawkins also prohibits cities from regulating how much a landlord can raise the price after a tenant moves out, a policy known as vacancy control.