Back in 1995, the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act (Costa-Hawkins) was passed. The Act brought a sense of control in the housing market in California. Before Costa-Hawkins, local governments had the permission to enact rent control as long as the landlords would get just and reasonable returns from their rental properties. When the Act was enacted, local governments were still permitted to use rent control except for rental houses that were first occupied after February 1, 1995, and those with distinct titles such as townhouses, single-family homes and condos.
In 2008, a different proposal known as Proposition 10 was brought to the table. Co-sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the proposal would permit local governments to adopt rent control on any type of rental housing. The proposal had too many flaws and would worsen the already-existing housing crisis in California. For that reason, it was rejected by an overwhelming 59% of the voters.
The proposition is back again in 2020, but this time with a different name, California Local Rent Control Initiative, and sponsored by an AHF division known as Housing Is A Human Right. The initiative has qualified for the ballot in California as an initiated state statute on November 3, 2020. This is another time that Californians need to come together and make the right choice for the betterment of the rental housing situation in their state. And the right choice is voting “NO” to the rental housing proposition.
The initiative, which is too flawed, is set to replace the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, a move that would worsen the housing crisis in California. “Voters overwhelming rejected the measure the last time it was on the ballot. Once we educate voters about Weinstein’s latest housing-freeze measure, it’s bound to fail just as miserably as Prop. 10,” says Tom Bannon, CEO of the California Apartment Association.
Why vote “NO.”
- California governor recently signed new state-wide rent control into law for the benefit of Californians. The new proposition will undermine the new state-wide rent control law before we experience its benefits.
- The flawed proposition will allow local governments to impose rent control on apartments and privately-owned single-family homes. In the worst-case scenario, the proposition could even lead bureaucrats to charge homeowners a fee for taking their home off the rental market.
- The proposition will create an inconsistent and unpredictable patchwork of local authorities, thus preventing critical affordable housing development, which will push rents and housing costs higher.
- The proposition will encourage landlords to withdraw their rental properties from the market and convert them into townhouses and condos. This will further reduce the rental housing supply and worsen the housing crisis in California.
- The proposition will put as many as 539 rental boards in charge of housing and have bureaucrats determining what people can or cannot with their properties. The rent boards would also have unlimited power to increase housing fees, which will convert to higher rents to tenants.
- According to a non-partisan Legislative Analyst, the proposition will lead the local governments into recurring extra costs by tens of millions of dollars annually, which would see the authorities diverting funds meant for other vital state services to compensate the losses.
The housing situation in California is already distressing; we don’t need to make it any worse. The power to make the housing situation better in California is in your hands as Californians. We need to oppose this proposition to prevent worsening the housing situation in our state. Join the coalition to oppose the flawed proposition as we continue to campaign against it. You can join the coalition at https://californiansforaffordablehousing.org/join-the-coalition/. When ballot time will come, vote against the proposition.
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions of Eric Lawrence Frazier are his own and do not necessarily represent views of First Bank or any organization affiliated with Eric Lawrence Frazier, or the Power Is Now Media Inc. First Bank is an Equal Credit Opportunity Lender. Eric Lawrence Frazier MBA is also a Vice President and Mortgage Advisor with First Bank. NMLS#461807 and a California Licensed Real Estate Broker DRE# 01143482. Email: Eric.frazier@fbol.com. Ph: 714- 475-8629.
Eric Lawrence Frazier MBA
President & CEO
The Power Is Now Media, Inc.
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