The Mountain View City Council is considering rent control (aka rent stabilization), as well as a just-cause eviction ordinance — and will discuss both policies Monday, Oct. 19.
CAA Tri-County is calling on its members to attend this study session and make their voices heard.
During this meeting, CAA will make a presentation to the City Council on the dynamics of the rental market and practical ways the city can address the housing crisis without punitive measures like rent control.
Below are some of the reasons why rent control and just-cause evictions are ineffective ways to address Mountain View’s housing issues.
Why rent control is bad for Mountain view:
• It is not an affordable housing program. If rent is not affordable before rent control, it will not become affordable after.
• Rent control will NOT produce one new unit of housing.
• The city should focus on producing the housing we need, not taking away value from the existing stock.
• Property owners are part of this community, too. They have invested in Mountain View, and the city should not punish them for doing so.
• People invested in rental property to save for their retirement and send their children to college. These rental properties are some owners’ nest eggs.
• Rent control only benefits someone based on how long they’ve lived in a unit, not their need for a private subsidy.
• Rent control makes property owners less likely to invest in their units.
• Rent control is the wrong approach. It has not worked in any city that has adopted it.
Why just-cause eviction won’t solve the housing crisis, either:
• Just-cause eviction won’t stop rent increases, and it won’t make our neighborhoods any safer.
• Such an ordinance would require rental owners to prove “cause” in court or, in some cases, before a political body every time they need to remove a problem resident such as a drug dealer, violent criminal or individual causing a significant nuisance to the community.
• Proving cause in court or by going before a board or commission is hard to do and unfair. The legal process is also costly, and very time consuming. Rental property owners would have to depose and subpoena other residents to testify. There is no guarantee that eviction boards will find cause under subjective criteria.
• Mountain View should focus on educating renters on their protections under existing law, instructing owners on their obligations, and enforcing the laws we have.
• We should look to provide a forum for owners and residents to resolve disputes in a neutral setting — not in a court, not in the political setting of an eviction board, and certainly not with a host of new laws and regulations.