News: rental
Filter
The California state Senate has approved a bill that would
require landlords to consider prospective tenants who use Section 8 housing
vouchers.
Sen. Holly Mitchell
SB 329 by Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, passed
off the Senate floor Thursday with 24 yes votes, 11 no votes and three abstentions.
The bill, now heading to the Assembly, would make it illegal
to deny a tenancy based on the applicant’s participation in the federal Housing
Choice voucher program.
Tagged: LegislationSection 8
CAA was successful in stopping a bill that would have established a statewide rental registry with an initial price tag north of $20 million and negative privacy implications for both landlords and tenants.
AB 724 by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, died when it failed to pass out of the Appropriations Committee by Thursday’s deadline.
Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks
As amended, the proposal sought to create a rental housing registry for all California properties with more than 16 units.
Each year, owners of units in these properties would have been forced to report a variety of data to the Department of Housing and Community Development, such as the size of… Read More
Tagged: Legislation
The California Apartment Association has expanded its public affairs and compliance staff to better protect the rental housing industry from legislative threats and to help members navigate a growing number of complicated laws and regulations.
CAA’s new hires include Stephanie Shirkey, senior policy and compliance counsel; Ninder Grewal, policy and compliance counsel; and Victor Cao, vice president of public affairs in Orange County.
Stephanie Shirkey
After CAA led the defeat of Proposition 10, the statewide rent control initiative on the November ballot, lawmakers returned with a deluge of negative proposals, including a statewide rent cap on all rental units, statewide… Read More
Tagged: AdvocacyLegislaturePress Release
The
California Apartment Association is exploring its options after the El Cerrito
City Council on Tuesday granted preliminary approval to a “just cause” for
eviction ordinance on a 3-2 vote.
Council
members Janet Abelson and Gabe Quinto voted against the ordinance. A proposal
to create a rent registry also won approval on a 4-1 vote, with Quinto
dissenting.
The council must
formalize approval of the measures with a second vote, expected on May 21. In
the meantime, CAA is evaluating all avenues for a reconsideration.
The path leading to this week’s preliminary approval of just cause began with a… Read More
Tagged: Just Cause Eviction Contra Costa
The California Apartment Association is providing free fair housing training for rental owners and property managers as part of a regional campaign to end housing discrimination. The six “Essentials of Fair Housing” seminars will be offered at locations throughout Sacramento county during May and June.
The free training is supported by several local governments, including the County of Sacramento, City of Sacramento, City of Elk Grove, City of Rancho Cordova, City of Citrus Heights, City of Folsom, and Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency.
CAA also received assistance from several nonprofit organizations that provide support services to renters. These organizations include Sacramento Self-Help Housing, which helps renters find affordable housing; Project Sentinel, which provides fair… Read More
Tagged: News
A bill approved by the California Assembly this week
would outlaw the use of a common type of rat poison, making it more difficult
to control rodent populations around rental housing and other buildings.
The
California Apartment Association opposes the bill, AB
1788 by Assemblyman Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica, which would
prohibit the use of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides. Pest control
companies use this tool to manage rodents around businesses, homes, apartments,
and other places where people eat, sleep, play and live.
Rodenticides protect Californians from the spread of
diseases, such as hantavirus and typhus.
Tagged: Legislation
Despite
opposition from CAA, a pair of “just cause” for eviction bills advanced this
week from the Assembly Judiciary Committee.
The bills, AB 1481 by Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Alameda, and AB 1697 by Assemblyman Tim Grayson, D-Concord, have now gone to the Assembly floor.
Both Grayson’s and Bonta’s proposals would limit evictions to certain causes, such as failure to pay rent, a substantial breach of the lease, or use of the property for illegal activity. Proving criminal activity, however, often requires testimony from third‐party witnesses who may be reluctant to come forward.
After hours of testimony Tuesday, the Santa Barbara City Council voted to create a “just cause” eviction ordinance, rejecting two years’ worth of negotiations and compromise by the council-appointed Landlord/Tenant Task Force.
Although they sound innocuous, so-called “just cause” ordinances require rental property owners to prove a cause in court or before a political body every time they need to remove a problem resident.
This makes it very difficult to remove tenants who have no regard for their neighbors, destroy the property, and tenants who are involved in illegal activity. As a result, communities suffer the consequences as nuisance conditions are not easily remedied.
Tagged: Just Cause Eviction Los Angeles
The Sacramento City Council on Tuesday voted to push forward with a temporary mediation program to address high rents while housing supply catches up with demand.
The program now moves to a second hearing set for April 23.
The mediation program is included
in the Tenant Protection and Relief Act introduced last year by Councilman
Steve Hansen, Vice Mayor Eric Guerra and Councilman Rick Jennings.
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.