Costa-Hawkins Repeal Qualifies for November Ballot

"The law will be known as: Affordable Housing Act. The People of the State of California hereby find and declare all of the following: a) Rents for housing have skyrocketed in recent years. Median rents are higher in California than any other state in the country, and among all 50 states, California has the 4th highest increase...Read More...

STOP the Flawed Rental Housing Initiative

The so-called “Affordable Housing Act” (Initiative 17-0041) is anything but affordable housing. DON’T BE FOOLED, THE INITIATIVE:  Will NOT increase funding for affordable housing.  Will NOT force local communities to build the housing approved in their general plans.  Will NOT provide any immediate relief for people facing higher housing costs. Legal analysts warn the initiative includes several flaws, is vague and confusing, and...Read More...

Will stronger rent control spread across California? Here's what you need to know.

"California voters are set to vote this November on an initiative that would allow California cities and counties to adopt stronger rent control laws, which limit how much landlords are allowed to raise rents each year. The Secretary of State's office reported last week that initiative backers have enough valid signatures to qualify it for the Nov....Read More...

California rent control measure makes November ballot

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Californians will make a big decision on rent control in November

"California voters will decide in November whether to give cities and counties new freedom to expand the use of rent control after an initiative backed by tenant groups earned a spot Friday on this fall’s ballot. The initiative would repeal a decades-old state law that prevents local governments from passing most new rent control...Read More...

One Possible Way To Resolve Rent Control Debate — Allowing Short-Term Rentals

"Could allowing tenants to rent out their apartments by the day or week help solve the problem of affordability, particularly as the state mulls the repeal of Costa-Hawkins, California's law that limits rent control? Pillow co-founder and CEO Sean Conway believes so." Click here to continue readingRead More...

Los Angeles Coalition Offers Sage Advice to LA County Tenant Protections Working GroupProperty owners given limited ability to join the conversation about rental housing issues

"The Los Angeles Coalition for Responsible Housing Solutions, an association of housing and property experts from across Los Angeles County, will provide public testimony before the Los Angeles County Tenant Protections Working Group on Wednesday at 8 AM. Thus far, the conversation surrounding tenant protections and rent stabilization has been driven without substantial input from property owners....Read More...

Costa-Hawkins Repeal will make Housing Less Affordable: Don’t Make an Emotional Decision

"So many people are talking about the potential repeal of Costa-Hawkins (The Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act). The main assumption being made is that if we repealed the act then we could create new affordable housing. People constantly talk about the difficulty they face in finding housing that is affordable to their paychecks. Los Angeles...Read More...

Expect More Protests, Rallies As Tenant Groups Push To Repeal Restrictions On Rent Control

With the California November election about five months away, several tenant rights groups and apartment associations representing owners and landlords are gearing up for a big fight over the state’s Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which limits rent control. On one side, tenant unions want to repeal the law. They are concerned with low- and middle-income earners,...Read More...

Sacramento Bee Voter Guide

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Housing Advocates Miss Deadline to Submit Petition to Include Rent Control Initiative on November Ballot

"Long Beach housing advocates failed to turn in a rent control petition today, which would have been the deadline required in order for it to appear on the November ballot, the city clerk’s office confirmed." Click here to continue readingRead More...

Southern California accounts for 61% of the state’s eviction filings, report finds

"Southern California eviction cases account for more than 60 percent of all eviction court filings in the state, a new study released Wednesday, May 30 shows. Landlords filed 306,537 eviction cases from 2014 through 2016 in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties, according to a report by the San Francisco-based tenants rights...Read More...

West Hollywood Agrees to Release List of Buildings Possibly Vulnerable to Earthquakes Next Week

"West Hollywood has decided to release next week the addresses of 820 buildings deemed possibly vulnerable to earthquake damage. The release will come ahead of a future decision by the City Council on who will pay to retrofit those buildings so as to mitigate possible damage. That decision, a reversal of the city’s previous position,...Read More...

Grand theft, housing, and owners who can't vote with their feet

"A core selling point of federalism is that it enables those ill-treated by one government body to “vote with their feet” toward less abusive jurisdictions. That is a good reason for reserving some political policy determinations to the state rather than national government, or to local rather than state government. However, devolving political power...Read More...

Meet the Rising New Housing Movement That Wants to Create Homes for All

“Crossing the Frederick Douglass–Susan B. Anthony Memorial Bridge on a brisk spring morning in Rochester, New York, the first thing one sees is a small tent city scattered about the banks of the Genesee River. It’s a sprawl of black tarps, folding chairs, and a charcoal grill, all set up on private land. The...Read More...

Pasadenans won’t be able to vote on rent control this November, after all

"Local hopes to get a rent control measure on the November ballot were dashed Thursday when a Pasadena group announced it fell 2,112 signatures short of the 12,336 that would have been necessary to put the idea up for a citywide vote. Pasadena Fair and Equitable Housing Coalition had 180 days to collect signatures from 15...Read More...

California housing is such a surreal nightmare, even Kafka would find it Kafkaesque

To: Joe Mathews From: Franz Kafka "I keep hearing Californians calling your state’s housing crisis Kafkaesque. You are far too kind. I never imagined a nightmare this cruel, absurd, and surreal. I don’t know how I got to California. But I appeared here some weeks ago, in the form of an insect, like my protagonist in 'The Metamorphosis.'...Read More...

Cheryl Turner for Board of Equalization 2018: 3rd District

Dear AAGLA Members, Below are excerpts from a September 12, 2017 Opinion piece in the Los Angeles Daily News: The Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees last week slapped down member Scott Svonkin over fellow member Andra Hoffman’s allegation that Svonkin was bullying her. In a Sept. 6 meeting, the trustees voted 6-1 to deliver a “stern...Read More...

Will The Costa Hawkins Repeal Pass?

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Rent Control is Killing the Coasts

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Vote NO on Measure BH

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Rent Control is a Lazy Solution with Drastic Unintended Consequences for California's Housing Crisis

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Credit Reporting Agencies Removing Reporting Data

The three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion have revised theirRead More...

Culver City Council Election - April 10th

There are two open seats on the Culver City Council that will be filled by the election on April 10thRead More...

Santa Monica Rent Control Board - Vacancy De-Control & Surcharges Pass Through

Congratulations to all AAGLA members that attended and/or sent emails to the Santa Monica Rent Control Board for their meeting on March 22ndRead More...

Mexico earthquake devastation spurs California cities to action, despite the costs

A number of cities big and small in Southern California are taking steps to identify seismically vulnerable buildings for the first time in a generationRead More...

City of Los Angeles Rent Registry Mandatory for 2018

Registration season for all multi-housing and properties subject to the Rent Stabilization Ordinance in the City of Los Angeles (RSO) began in JanuaryRead More...

Update on the City of Los Angeles’ Trash Hauling Monopoly - recycLA

Details of the Press Conference and the Committee on Energy, Climate Change and Environmental Justice Hearing Held on February 6, 2018Read More...

'A hot mess' — Council members trash the rollout of L.A.'s recycling program

Frustration with Los Angeles' new recycling program boiled over at City Hall on Tuesday, with council members grilling trash company executives and calling forRead More...

Rapid Reaction: Q4 2017 Homeownership Rate

After bouncing around near 50-year lows for the past few years, the national homeownership rate finally seems to be gaining sustainable, meaningful upward momentumRead More...