News: Rent Control
Filter
The Santa Rosa Rent Stabilization Subcommittee has voted 2-1 to recommend “soft” rent control and a just-cause-for eviction policy for the city.
The committee, at its March 31 meeting, also recommended that an urgency rent moratorium be enacted to halt any rent increases for 45 days. The full City Council is set to discuss these recommendations at its May 3 meeting.
The votes for soft rent control came from City Council members Julie Combs and Chris Coursey.
Don’t let the terminology fool you. “Soft” or “limited” rent stabilization is no different than real rent control.
The only minor variation from… Read More
Rebuffed at city halls in several Northern California cities, tenant advocates are increasingly turning to the November ballot in their push for strict rent control measures.
One week ago, tenant advocates in San Mateo began efforts to qualify a rent control-related ballot measure for the November 2016 election. This filing came just one day after the San Mateo City Council voted 3-2 against rent control and a just-cause eviction policy.
Moreover, the San Mateo filing came just days after tenant advocates in Burlingame and Mountain View filed similar measures, and renter advocate groups in Richmond and Alameda also are seeking… Read More
The San Mateo City Council next week will consider an emergency ordinance that would temporarily ban rent increases on pre-1995 apartments.
The council will consider the emergency ordinance at 7 p.m. Monday, April 4, at San Mateo City Hall. The ordinance, which also includes just-cause eviction measures, was recommended by city staff Thursday evening — just two business days before the council meeting.
If approved Monday, the measure could take effect as early as the following day. It would then last 90 days but could be extended.
City staff justifies this proposal by calling this a “temporary” measure. It is… Read More
Tagged: Just Cause EvictionRent Control
Mountain View returned from the brink of approving binding arbitration — a form of rent control — during the City Council’s Tuesday night meeting.
The California Apartment Association played a pivotal role in mobilizing property owners to speak at the meeting and advocate for sensible landlord-tenant measures.
Mountain View had been considering binding arbitration, which allows a third party to decide how much rent can increase — if at all — making it a form of rent control. The city of Alameda formally approved such a policy March 1.
CAA succeeded in fending off this type of rent control in… Read More
Tagged: NewsRent Control Tri-County
The window is quickly closing for rental housing owners to voice their opposition to stricter rent control in San Jose.
The San Jose City Council is expected to vote on a harsher version of its current policy April 19.
Before it does, the city next week will hold one more committee meeting on the issue.
The California Apartment Association is calling on its members to speak out at this meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 16, at San Jose City Hall, 200 East Santa Clara St.
San Jose’s Housing Department will review its recommendations for the city’s rent control… Read More
Tagged: Rent Control Tri-County
A second Bay Area city is on the verge of approving binding arbitration – basically rent control in disguise.
The Mountain View City Council will take up the proposal at its Tuesday, March 15, meeting. The session starts at 6 p.m. in council chambers, 500 Castro St.
Mountain View’s consideration of binding arbitration comes on the heels of Alameda’s approval of the same policy, which it formally adopted Tuesday, March. 1.
Under this approach to settling rent disputes, a tenant can have a mediator decide how much rent can go up — if at all. This plainly puts a control… Read More
Tagged: Rent Control Tri-County
Rental property owners in San Jose would face a more stringent cap on annual rent increases under draft recommendations released by the city’s housing department.
Housing officials Tuesday recommended moving from the current 8 percent limit on annual rent increases to a model based on the rate of inflation.
Under the Housing Department’s recommendations, the annual allowable rent increase would be 100 percent of the consumer price index with a floor of 2 percent and a ceiling of 8 percent.
“City staff is proposing the most punitive form of rent control possible … that will only make the (housing) problem… Read More
Tenant advocates in Richmond and Alameda have filed preliminary paperwork to place rent control initiatives on the November ballot.
In both East Bay cities, the initiative efforts are in the early stages, and in neither case has signature-gathering begun.
The California Apartment Association, which remains opposed to rent control, is studying the filings and working to determine the best response in each city.
The pursuit of initiatives follows months of wrangling over how to address housing shortages in the East Bay and other areas of Northern California.
Last year, the Richmond City Council approved a rent control measure, but a… Read More
Tagged: Rent Control Tri-CountyContra Costa
Evidence that rent control is the wrong approach to solving California’s housing crisis continued to mount this week as CAA released a study by Beacon Economics.
The Beacon Economics report found that low-income tenants in cities with rent control are not likely to benefit from the policy as intended.
Its release comes a week after California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office published a study that points to flaws with rent control.
The Beacon Economics report found that rent control helps a select few — those lucky enough to live in a rent-controlled unit when the law takes effect. Once benefiting from… Read More
Tagged: Rent Control
The Alameda City Council next week will consider placing disputes over rent increases into binding arbitration, a move that effectively imposes rent control in the local market.
Under such a system, owners would have to justify any rent increase over 5 percent and participate in a process in which the city — not the owner or market — determines how much rents can go up.
The California Apartment Association is calling on its members to attend the meeting, scheduled for the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 16, and speak out against the proposal. The city’s strategy would add layers of red… Read More