Temporary Freeze on Market Rate Rent Increases Likely if Prop. 10 Passes

"The Rent Control Board (RCB) favors freezing base rents for all controlled units if Proposition 10 passes to allow time for permanent solutions to be developed. At their Oct. 11 meeting, the RCB approved a conceptual plan that would prevent any increase in rents for new tenants pending an amendment to the City Charter. The...Read More...

NAACP Leader Opposes Rent Control Bid While Taking Real Estate Money

"The California leader of a major US civil rights group is facing backlash for fighting a rent control measure while working as a paid consultant for an opposition campaign funded by real estate companies. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in California is opposing a pro-tenant initiative that has widespread support from civil...Read More...

The Return of Rent Control

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio has long been an admirer of the Sandinistas, the revolutionary political movement that overthrew the government of Nicaragua and brought to that unhappy country its Marxist ideal of justice, which turned out to be rather heavy on mass executions. But Mayor de Blasio’s roving eye seems to...Read More...

LA County's Supervisors Have Endorsed Proposition 10 (The Rent Control One)

"The Los Angeles County supervisors threw their considerable weight behind the statewide rental regulation ballot measure, voting 3-1 on Tuesday to endorse Proposition 10, the so-called Affordable Housing Act. If voters approve Proposition 10 in November, local governments would have more power to pass rent control policies, which have been largely limited since 1995. The move comes...Read More...

Unwilling to Wait for Voters, Los Angeles County Jumps Gun on Temporary Rent Control

"Los Angeles County couldn’t wait for voters to decide this fall if local governments can enact rent-control laws. The Board of Supervisors recently enacted a “temporary” restriction on rent increases. If they think that will relieve the housing crisis, they are mistaken. The Los Angeles County ordinance sets rents at their current levels, and caps...Read More...

California Tenants Take Rent Control Fight to the Ballot Box

"From pulpits across Los Angeles, Pastor Kelvin Sauls has spent the past few months delivering sermons on the spiritual benefits of fasting. The food in the sermon is rent, and landlords need less of it. “My role is to bring a moral perspective to what we are dealing with around the housing crisis,” Pastor...Read More...

Why Wall Street is Putting Millions Into Beating California Rent Control

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Will Prop. 10 Solve the Housing Crisis?

"According to the California secretary of state, Proposition 10 initiative statute expands local governments’ authority to enact rent control on residential property. It would repeal state law that currently restricts the scope of rent control policies that cities and other local jurisdictions may impose on residential property. It would have a potential net reduction in state...Read More...

PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and Their Government

Summary Key findings from the current survey: A slim majority of likely voters oppose Proposition 6, which would repeal recently enacted increases in gas taxes and vehicle registration fees. Proposition 10—which would expand local authority to enact rent control—is also trailing. In the governor’s race, Gavin Newsom’s lead has narrowed but is still in the...Read More...

AIDS Foundation Goes All in for Rent Control Initiative

"It’s perhaps no surprise that apartment owners, real estate interests and corporate landlords have spent $61 million to kill Proposition 10, an initiative that threatens their income by reinstating rent control in California. But the main funder of the Yes on 10 campaign comes from what might, to an unpracticed eye, be an unlikely source. The...Read More...

California's Long Rent Control Battle Culminates with Proposition 10

"Proposition 10, also known as the Affordable Housing Act, will repeal the 1995 Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act if passed, according to California’s Voter Guide. The Costa Hawkins act limits the ability of cities in California to enforce rent control on housing built after 1995, and allows landlords to raise rent as much as they want for new...Read More...

Squatters' Takeover of Torrance Home Illustrates Landlord Frustrations with State Law

"The gold-colored doorknob was a dead giveaway. Rick Bernier noticed it immediately on the morning of Sept. 11 when he pulled into the driveway of the yellow, four-bedroom rental home he manages in the 22000 block of Ladeene Avenue, a quiet neighborhood on Torrance’s west side. The knob on the backdoor didn’t match the silver...Read More...

UCLA Study Calls for Rent Control Tightening

"The late 1970s were a revolutionary time for middle class and working class Los Angeles area renters who saw their way of life damaged by inflation and a growing housing shortage. Their anger spread from their apartments and homes on the Westside and in the San Fernando Valley and led to the passage of...Read More...

The Siren Song of Rent Control

In ancient mythology, Odysseus had to navigate his boat around a group of sharp rocks but beautiful women stood on the shoreline behind the rocks singing songs that promised love and health and fortune if they simply sailed closer. As I recall, they had to duct tape old Odysseus to the mizzen mast or he...Read More...

How Gavin Newsom, John Cox Say They'd Make California More Affordable

"Both candidates for governor agree that the cost of housing in California, to rent and own, is too dang high. They concur that the skyrocketing homeless population is a travesty. And they want to help the 1 in 5 Californians who lives in poverty. But that’s pretty much all they agree on when it comes to how to...Read More...

Fact-Checking Claims About California's Rent Control Measure Prop. 10

"Listen to the No on Prop 10 ads — about California’s much-debated rent control measure — and you’d think it’s a deeply flawed initiative that will drive the state’s housing crisis ever-deeper. Click over to the Yes on 10 spots and you’d get the impression renters in California desperately need this measure to pass. So, which is it? Which...Read More...

In a Rarity, Los Angeles Strips Building From Rent Control, Leaving Tenants Facing Big Increases

"In November, Californians will go to the polls to decide whether to give cities the option of sharply expanding protections against steep rent increases. But as tenants at a 38-unit Tarzana apartment complex recently discovered, it’s also possible to have existing rent controls revoked. The property on Reseda Boulevard fell under the city of...Read More...

Who Will Pay for Earthquake Retrofits? The City Council Takes Up That Question on Monday

"The West Hollywood City Council on Monday will decide whether and how to require tenants of rent-stabilized apartment buildings to share part of the costs incurred by landlords to retrofit those buildings that have been deemed vulnerable from damage by an earthquake. The Council’s decision is likely to have a major impact on the city’s...Read More...

Meet the Biggest Players in the Battle Over Rent Control Expansion

"Few subjects have the ability to spark a heated Bay Area debate like rent control. Rent control has always been a divisive topic between Bay Area tenants and landlords, but the matter has taken on a newfound significance with Prop. 10, which will appear on California voters’ ballots in November. It's also attracted big money:...Read More...

Column: California's Housing Situation is a Mess. Proposition 10 Isn't Going to Help

"California voters will decide on Nov. 6 whether government rent controls would make housing more affordable or even more expensive. Controlling rent hikes would help keep tenants under shelter and off the street. At least that’s the theory. But controls also could drive up rent prices by reducing housing supply in several ways, it’s contended. Developers...Read More...

How's the Market? Right Problem, Wrong Solution

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West Hollywood City Council Has Adopted Positions on 7 General Election Ballot Measures

"The West Hollywood City Council has adopted positions on seven propositions that will appear on the Nov. 6 general election ballot, each of which is expected to have an impact on local residents. Those propositions and the City Council’s stated position are as follows: — Proposition 1: Housing Programs and Veterans’ Loans Bond — City Position:...Read More...

Rent Control Gets a Potential Re-Do With California

"One of the most contentious items on California's November ballot is Prop 10, which has landlords and the rental housing industry fighting hard as they claim it would make the state's housing crisis worse." Click here to continue reading.Read More...

2018 Voter Guide: A Look at California's Proposition 10: Local Rent Control

PROPOSITION 10: Expands local governments' authority to enact rent control on residential property. Initiative statute SUMMARY: A "YES" vote supports letting local governments adopt rent control and abolishes the existing Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. Current law limits the adoption of Rent Control in California. HOW DID IT GET ON MY BALLOT: Supporters of Prop. 10 collected enough signatures of registered...Read More...

Rent Control Proposition on California November Ballot

"Californians who rent apartments built after 1995, single-family homes or condominiums have limited protections from rising costs under a state law passed that year that restricts rent control. That could change if voters pass Proposition 10 in November. It would overturn the 1995 law and open the door to more rent control in cities and...Read More...

Will California's Rent Control Measure Prop. 10 Really have No Effect on Homeowners?

"Much of the debate over California’s rent control measure, Proposition 10, has centered on how it will affect apartment dwellers and landlords. But a claim by the Yes on 10 campaign in a recent TV ad has fueled questions over how homeowners will fare should the measure pass in November. Here’s what the ad says: "Independent voices urge Yes...Read More...

Editorial: Vote No on Prop. 10 and Rent Control

"One of the more persuasive arguments supporting Proposition 10 on the November ballot is that it’s more about “local control” than rent control. The measure would not impose rent control anywhere but would give cities and counties some flexibility in addressing the affordable housing crisis, the reasoning goes. It’s a nice thought, and we certainly...Read More...

In a Rarity, Los Angeles Strips Building From Rent Control, Leaving Tenants Facing Big Increases

"In November, Californians will go to the polls to decide whether to give cities the option of sharply expanding protections against steep rent increases. But as tenants at a 38-unit Tarzana apartment complex recently discovered, it’s also possible to have existing rent controls revoked. The property on Reseda Boulevard fell under the city of Los...Read More...

Landlords Are Threatening Rent Hikes if Proposition 10 Passes, Activists Say

"In August, North Hollywood resident Jacob Swanson, 36, heard from his building’s property manager that rent for his apartment would increase from $1,850 to $2,000 per month, higher than the typical yearly increase he was used to. Eager to know the reason for the higher rent hike, he emailed the property manager to ask if repairs or...Read More...

Proposition 10 Clears Hurdle for Rent Control - The L.A. Taco California Voter Guide, Part 1

"You probably got your voter guide in the mail, because it’s just about that time when Californians go to the polls and are asked to vote on propositions. This year they cover everything from whether or not to change Daylight Savings time, to whether EMT workers should get uninterrupted lunch breaks when someone nearby...Read More...