Apartments at Heritage Park at Hilltop in Richmond on Sept. 28, 2022. Tenants at Heritage Park have successfully organized against rent increases in the past at the affordable housing community for seniors. A bill to lower California’s cap on rent increases and expand tenant protections drew strong opposition from landlord groups and others who argued it would hamper development. It won't move forward in the California Assembly this year, but the effort isn't over. (Marlena Sloss/KQED)
A bill that would have lowered the statewide cap on rent increases won’t move forward in the California Assembly this year, but the effort isn’t over.
Assemblymember Ash Kalra, D–San José, who authored the bill dubbed the Affordable Rent Act, said the push to further restrict how much landlords can raise the rent for long-term tenants and expand protections to more renters would become a two-year endeavor.
“As we enter an economic downturn and vulnerable Californians enter more dire financial situations, we must guide our policies with empathy for one another, especially as it pertains to keeping families in their homes,” he said in a statement after pulling the bill on Tuesday. “We must keep up the fight — housing is a human right!”
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Despite support from a swath of California Democrats, the bill faced strong opposition from state real estate agents and landlord associations, who argued that it would hamper development at a time when California sorely needs new builds.
The bill would have amended the Tenant Protection Act of 2019, lowering the maximum annual rent increase from 10% to 5% for most multifamily rental properties in the state that are more than 15 years old. It would not have affected existing rent control ordinances in Bay Area cities, including San Francisco and San José.
The existing Tenant Protection Act includes other safeguards, such as requiring just cause for evictions, and will sunset in 2030. Kalra’s bill would have extended those protections to renters of single-family homes, whose properties are currently exempt, and made the legislation permanent.
A “For Rent” sign hangs in the window of an apartment building in Nob Hill in San Francisco on July 29, 2021. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
The California Apartment Association, which represents owners, developers and landlords and has been a staunch opponent of rent control efforts, said in a statement that the Affordable Rent Act would “make it harder for housing construction to pencil out, target mom and pop landlords, and put government price controls on renting out your extra bedroom.”
The contingent appears to have swayed — or at least given pause to — enough members of the Assembly Judiciary Committee to halt the legislation. Kalra said discussions with its members and debate in the Housing and Community Development Committee, which passed the bill by a slim majority, both signaled that more time was needed to revise the legislation.
“I’m concerned that elements of this bill could exacerbate our housing production concerns and have some potential unintended consequences in that vein,” Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, said during the Housing and Community Development hearing on the bill last week. She ultimately voted to forward the legislation, but Democrats Anamarie Avila Farias and Lori Wilson joined three Republicans who voted against it.
California YIMBY, a pro-development lobbying organization, raised similar concerns after the hearing.
“Imposing increasingly strict price controls every few years could dissuade the housing production our state needs — addressing a symptom of the crisis while making the underlying disease worse,” the group said in a statement.
Shanti Singh, an advocate for Tenants Together, told KQED that the fear of slowing development is a common argument against tenant protections in Sacramento, but it isn’t realistic.
“We see that argument trotted out over and over and over again to the point where everything apparently blocks new housing,” she said. “Not just rent control, but just cause blocks new housing, changing the eviction process blocks new housing, giving tenants protection for retaliation for organizing blocks new housing.
“We really need to break out of that dichotomy. It’s a false one.”
She said tenants’ advocates are disappointed but plan to bring the legislation back next session.
“We are going to come back every single year until there is a resolution to this, because the rent cap, as it exists, expires in 2030, and we don’t want to wait for that,” she said. “There’s also issues that we’ve been trying to fix.”
At the current 10% cap, a tenant’s rent could double in just seven years, according to Singh. It also excludes renters of single-family homes. In 2022, 23% of single-family homes were rentals, according to census data tracked by the Orange County Register.
“People always rank [housing affordability] like the highest priority on the ground — to fix that — so we’re going to keep trying,” Singh said. “Still, it’s disappointing that the Legislature isn’t really taking this cost-of-living crisis seriously.”
