Tenant groups increasingly focus on ballot in quest for rent control
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 to place rent control on their respective ballots this fall.
The process for any citizens’ group to place a measure before voters is governed by California law, and at this point, these filings do nothing more than kick off a long, very detailed process. For details on the proposed measures, including counter measures in Richmond and Alameda, click here.
Efforts to place rent control before voters come as many Northern California cities have been grappling to address a severe housing shortage that has contributed to rising rents and increased housing costs.
Despite strong demands from local community groups, city councils in many cities have rejected rent control, including Mountain View, San Mateo, Pacifica, Lafayette.
In Richmond, the California Apartment Association successfully overturned a rent control ordinance the City Council adopted, and in Alameda tenant groups felt the binding arbitration program approved by the City Council which makes it hard for rental owners to increase rents beyond 5 percent did not go far enough.
CAA respects every citizen’s right to bring forward legislative proposals for the voters to consider. These measures, however, reflect the same failed policies that have led to higher housing costs and gentrification in cities that have adopted them.
CAA seeks to focus on positive solutions for the community, including building more housing, establishing permanent, local funding for the development and preservation of affordable housing, educating the community on the value of high-density, transit-oriented development, and providing mechanisms for rental owners and their residents to resolve disputes.
In addition to CAA, economists also point to the need for more residential construction, and the role that local governments can play, as sensible ways to alleviate upward pressure on housing costs.
“One possible way to address this situation of rapidly rising rents is to simply build more, and not just luxury housing but really across all price points,” Svenja Gudell, Zillow’s chief economist, said in this CNBC story. “Cities can start a discussion about what it means to build affordable housing, mid-range housing and high-end housing to ease these price pressures in the rental market.”
Also emphasizing the importance of residential construction in addressing California’s housing crisis are recent reports by Beacon Economics and California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.
For its part, CAA is sponsoring the following legislation at the state Capitol to encourage housing production:
• AB 2299 (Bloom) – Mandate that local governments allow for second units on residential lots based on specific findings.
• AB 2501 (Bloom) – Make it faster, easier, and more economical for developers to obtain density bonuses in exchange for building affordable housing.
• AB 2584 (Daly) – Authorize organizations such as CAA to bring legal action against a local government that denies housing projects in violation of state law.
• AB 2180 (Ting) – Expedite the building permit process.
Click here to learn about other housing bills that CAA supports this year.
Locally, CAA is promoting a best-practices program to educate rental housing providers about the unintended consequences of rent increases that might be deemed excessive and has encouraged cities to adopt mediation programs to help renters address issues they may have around rent increases, notices to terminate, and issues that arise during a tenancy.