Sacramento — California’s Proposition 10 aims not only to expand rent control, but also to re-invent it.
More than a dozen of the state’s more expensive cities already have some kind of rent control, but it’s limited by design.
Put simply, rent controls under current law are restricted to:
• Price restrictions on renewal of current tenants
• Multi-unit housing (apartments, etc)
• Units built prior to 1995
Those restrictions would all be lifted if Prop 10 is voted into law, allowing cities and counties in California more options for attempting to control the rent that people pay.
However, Prop 10 also contains language allowing landlords to make a “fair” rate of return, which is in line with court rulings that find landlords need to be allowed to make at least some profit on the homes they own.
That might be a tough needle to thread if local governments take advantage of Prop 10’s language allowing rent control for new renters.
Likewise, the impact of allowing rent controls to apply to single-family homes is tough to predict. The state’s bean counters point out Prop 10 could actually have the opposite of the desired effect of making life easier for renters, because some landlords will choose to sell rental homes rather than face rent control; taking some homes off the rental market.
They also note that more rent control would encourage renters to move less. That’s good if you want to stay put and pay less, but less helpful if you’re shopping for a place to rent and more units are occupied by people staying put.
How Prop 10 plays out would be up to local governments depending on what specific rent controls they pass.
A yes vote expands rent control in the state.
A no vote keeps rent control rules the same as they are now.
If you still have questions, you can learn more in the state’s official analysis or by reading the arguments for and against Prop 10.
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