A Rent Cap is NOT Rent Control, says California’s Prop. 33 Campaign
02 August 2024 - 11:34PM
Business Wire
Advocates say flawed 2019 ‘California Tenant
Protection Act’ is really a Landlord Protection Act
A new limit on rent increases taking effect this month in Los
Angeles and across the state has housing and rent control advocates
from AHF’s Housing Is A Human Right (HHR) and the Yes on
Proposition 33 campaign sharply criticizing the 2019 California
bill (AB 1482) which caps rents on tenants in buildings not covered
by other and/or more restrictive rent stabilization ordinances
(RSOs) as flawed legislation that more accurately should be called
the Landlord Protection Act.
As of August 1st, landlords of non-RSO buildings in Los Angeles
and elsewhere in California will be permitted to raise tenant rents
up to a maximum of 8.9%. When enacted into law, the limit or cap in
the bill, 5% plus the Consumer Price Index or CPI, set a new floor
for rent increases around 10%--one that many housing advocates saw
then and see now as far too high.
“Tenants deserve better than a 10 percent cap when cities with
true rent control have as low as 3 percent or 4 percent increases,”
said Susie Shannon, campaign director for the Yes on
Proposition 33 campaign. “What’s best for tenants is to give them
control at the local level to keep rents lower as opposed to the
State of California keeping the rent increases close to a maximum
10% increase. That’s what Prop 33 will do. It puts tenants and
local communities in the driver’s seat to decide if rent control is
right for their own local California communities.”
Since 2019, the average monthly rent on a two-bedroom apartment
in Los Angeles went from about $1,750 up to $2,926 in 2024.
Proposition 33, sponsored by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF)
and endorsed by more than 100 elected and formerly elected
officials in California, is just 23 words: "The state may not limit
the right of any city, county, or city and county to maintain,
enact or expand residential rent control.”
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Ged Kenslea, AHF Senior Director of Communications 323.791.5526
ged.kenslea@ahf.org