Voters reject ballot measure for rent control — again
California voters rejected a ballot measure Tuesday that would have rolled back state limits on rent control, the second such measure in three years.
Proposition 21 was behind 41% 59%, a gap that widened throughout the evening. The initiative, which required a simple majority for passage, would have expanded the housing eligible to be covered by local rent regulations, including newer buildings, singlefamily homes and apartments vacated by their tenants.
The proposition was the sequel of sorts to a more sweeping attempt in 2018 to repeal the
CostaHawkins Rental Housing Act, a 1995 law that restricts how cities can curb rent increases. The 2018 initiative failed by nearly 20 percentage points.
CostaHawkins prohibits rent control on any housing built after Feb. 1, 1995 — or even earlier in cities, like San Francisco, that had ordinances in place when the law passed. Prop. 21 would instead have set a rolling deadline, so local governments could adopt rent regulations for housing more than 15 years old.
California also exempts all singlefamily homes and condominiums from rent control and prohibits cities from passing policies that cap the rent on a unit when a tenant moves out. Prop. 21 would have eliminated that exemption for condominiums and singlefamily homes, unless they are owned by someone with only one or two rental homes. It would have allowed communities to restrict rental rates on vacant units, letting them cap increases at no more than 15% over three years after a tenant moved out.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the Los Angeles nonprofit that bankrolled the 2018 measure, spent $ 40 million trying to pass Prop. 21. It argued that the measure would provide relief from exorbitant rents. Half of tenant households in the state are considered cost-burdened because they spend at least 30% of their income on rent.
Landlords and developers argue that rent control would worsen California’s housing problems by discouraging construction and taking affordable units off the market. They poured in $ 85 million to defeat the measure.
The state Legislature has already acted to prevent the biggest rent hikes. A law that took effect this year caps annual rent increases at 5% plus inflation, or a maximum of 10%, until 2030. Like Prop. 21, it exempts housing built in the past 15 years, as well as singlefamily homes that are not owned by a corporation.