Updated Wednesday, Sept. 11, 5 p.m.
California lawmakers on Wednesday moved to cap annual rent increases statewide for most tenants, a major victory for tenants as limited housing supply in the country’s most populous state continues to drive up the cost of living while pushing more people to the streets.
A day after its approval by the state Senate, members of the Assembly voted 46-22 in favor of AB 1482 , which caps rent increases at 5% each year, plus inflation, for the next decade while banning landlords from evicting tenants without just cause.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he supports the measures and is expected to sign it into law.
California’s largest cities, including Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco, have some form of rent control that has been in place for decades, but a state law passed in 1995 has restricted any new municipal rent control laws since that year. In most places, landlords can raise rents at any time and for any reason as long as they give advance notice.
California voters overwhelmingly rejected a statewide ballot initiative to overturn the 1995 law last year.
In Pomona, about 30 miles east of Los Angeles, Yesenia Miranda Meza said her rent has jumped 20% in the past two years. On Monday, she marched with other tenants through the halls of the state Capitol chanting, “Once I’ve paid my rent, all my money’s spent.”
“I’m a rent increase away from eviction, and that’s with me having two jobs,” she said. “So if this (bill) doesn’t go through and I get another rent increase, I really don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m either going to be homeless or I’ll have to cram into a room with a whole bunch of other people.”
Opponents have likened the proposal to rent control — a more restrictive set of limitations on landlords.
Jared Martin, president of the California Association of Realtors, said the group’s 200,000 members strongly oppose the bill because it will “reduce the supply and quality of rental housing.” It’s an argument echoed by state Sen. Jeff Stone, R-Temecula, who said developers would have no reason to build new housing if they can’t make money off their investment.
“We’ll see even a greater housing crisis because of the low supply of housing,” Stone said. “Either this will force our constituents to join a 60,000 homeless population that we see in the LA area, or they will simply just move to another state.”
But supporters say the bill includes lots safeguards to prevent that from happening. The rent caps don’t apply to housing built within the last 15 years — a provision that prompted the California Building Industry Association to drop its opposition.
