On your November ballot: Prop 33 will allow Calif. cities and counties to enact rent control

by Edward Henderson, California Black Media

(CBM) – Many cities in California limit the amount a landlord can raise rent each year. However, for nearly 30 years the state has imposed its own limits on the authority of local governments to enact rent control policies.

Landlords across California are currently allowed to set their own rental rates when new tenants move in. Prop 33 would repeal the state law (the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act) prohibiting cities and counties from capping rents on single-family homes, condominiums and apartments built after 1995.

By repealing the act, the initiative would allow cities and counties to limit annual rent increases on any residential housing and limit the initial rent for a first-time tenant. Any local laws currently inoperative under Costa-Hawkins would take effect upon its repeal.

The initiative would also add language to California’s Civil Code prohibiting the state from limiting “the right of any city, county, or city and county to maintain, enact or expand residential rent control.”

Justice for Renters, which is sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, is leading the campaign supporting the ballot initiative. Proponents of the proposition focus their campaign on a popular slogan, “the rent is too damn high.” Nearly 30% of California renters spend more than half their income on rent – that percentage is higher than that of any other state except Florida and Louisiana.

Representatives from the Yes on Proposition 33 campaign could not be reached for direct comment. However, presidential candidate Kamala Harris recently showed her support for the proposition in an ad earlier in August.

“We applaud Vice President Harris’s support of rent control. Here in her home state, voters have a golden opportunity to expand rent control by voting Yes on 33 this November,” said Susie Shannon, campaign director for the Yes on Proposition 33 campaign in a press release. “Kamala joins the California Democratic Party and over a hundred California elected officials in the movement for relief for renters. Her embrace of rent control definitely increases the momentum for Prop. 33.”

Opponents of Prop 33 argue that rent control would worsen the state’s housing crisis by lowering property values and disincentivizing developers from building new housing. This would also drive prices up for existing rental units, they point out. California Black Media (CBM) spoke to Nathan Click of Click Strategies on why he opposes the proposition.

“We’re in a housing crisis as a state, and this is the exact wrong way that we should go about addressing it. Prop 33 has already been rejected twice by California voters, by nearly 60% in 2018 and 2020. They’ve rejected nearly identical measures. Non-partisan researchers at MIT have shown that measures like Prop 33 will result in an average reduction of home values of up to 25%.”

NAACP California/Hawaii State Conference President Rick L. Callender also opposes the proposition due to the impact he believes it will have on communities of color. 

“Proposition 33 will hurt communities of color and exacerbate our homeless and housing crisis,” said Callender in a release. “Homeownership has been an essential path to wealth generation for Black and Brown families, and Proposition 33 will simply hurt individual homeowners, making it harder for Black and Brown families to build generational wealth.”

A “yes” vote supports:

• Repealing the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act (1995), thereby allowing cities and counties to limit rent on any housing and limit the rent for first-time tenants and
• Adding language to state housing law to prohibit the state from limiting “the right of any city, county, or city and county to maintain, enact or expand residential rent control.”

A “no” vote opposes repealing Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which prohibits rent control on single-family homes and houses completed after Feb. 1, 1995.

California Black Media, serving California’s Black press, boasts a record of ensuring that the Black viewpoint remains central to all the debates that shape life in California. Edward Henderson and other members of the CBM staff can be reached at [email protected].  

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