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With a rent control hearing looming at the Capitol, the Sacramento City Council last month postponed its own hearing on landlord-tenant policies.
The council had been scheduled to hold a second hearing April 23 on the proposed Residential Rental Mediation Program, which is intended to address high rents while housing supply catches up with demand.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg, however, moved to postpone the hearing in light of two rent control bills scheduled to be weighed at the state Capitol later that week.
Steinberg suggested that the robust discussions surrounding AB 1489 and AB 36 could have a significant impact on local landlord-tenant policies. The… Read More
Tagged: NewsRent Control Sacramento Valley
Debra Carlton, CAA’s senior vice president of public affairs, testifies against AB 1482. Photos by Bob Knapik
A bill that would apply rent control and price-gouging protections statewide advanced today from its first committee hearing, while a second rent control proposal stalled amid strong opposition from CAA.
Assemlyman David Chiu
The Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development approved AB 1482 by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, the committee chairman, on a 6 to 1 vote with one abstention.
A tenant-unionizing bill is being expanded to allow California tenants to withhold payment in protest when a landlord raises the rent beyond the rate of inflation.
Under an amendment to SB 529 by Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles, a rent increase above the consumer price index is listed as a qualifying “grievance” to go on a rent strike without risking eviction. The amendment was added Tuesday during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sen. Maria Elena Durazo
Debra Carlton, CAA’s senior vice president of public affairs, testified that the new element to SB 529 amounts to rent control.… Read More
Tagged: Legislation
Less than six months after Proposition 10 went down in crushing defeat, Michael Weinstein is again attempting to return extreme forms of rent control to California, a move that would decimate the supply of housing for California’s working families.
On Friday, Weinstein filed preliminary paperwork with the state attorney general to place another statewide initiative before voters, aiming for the 2020 ballot.
According to initial paperwork filed with California Attorney General’s Office, the new initiative seeks to create the Rental Affordability Act. Under this measure, cities and counties would be free to impose rent control on buildings after they turn… Read More
Over the objections of CAA, the Inglewood City Council on Tuesday agreed to pursue a permanent rent control ordinance, “just cause” eviction policies, and a relocation assistance program tied to rent increases.
The council advanced these policies one week after extending a temporary rent control and just-cause measure for an additional 60 days. The interim ordinance caps rent increases at 5%.
Under the permanent rent control ordinance, rent increases would be limited to 8% each year.
A
pair of bills that would greatly expand rent control in California will get
their first test in the state Legislature next week.
On Thursday, April 25, the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development will hold special hearings on AB 1482, which would apply rent control to every unit in California, and AB 36, which would weaken California’s Costa-Hawkins Act, allowing cities and counties to expand local rent control laws to single-family homes and newer construction.
Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday will consider extending a temporary rent cap they approved last year, a move that lays the groundwork to pursue a permanent rent control measure.
Supervisors also will consider expanding the “just cause” eviction provision to cover all properties, not just rentals built after 1995.
Thanks
in part to the efforts of CAA, the Milpitas City Council this week backed away
from a proposal to bring impose rent control and “just cause” eviction policies.
The
council rejected these policies Tuesday after receiving a report from its
Tenant Protection Task Force, which included both tenants and property owners.
While
tenants on the task force demanded rent control and just cause policies,
property owners in the group suggested several alternatives, such as conducting
educational workshops to help tenants understand their rights under state law,
establishing a non-binding mediation program for disputes, and creating a “right to lease”… Read More
In
the wee hours of Wednesday morning, the Long Beach City Council voted 6-3 to
draft a tenant relocation ordinance that will bring a form of rent and eviction
controls to the city.
CAA
remains opposed to the forthcoming ordinance, which is expected to require
landlords with buildings of four units or more to pay relocation assistance
when tenants receive certain types of termination notices. Buildings with four
units would be exempt only when the owner lives in the building.