Blog / The Business Perspective
Proposition 10 is No Solution to our Housing Crisis
September 20, 2018
by Maria S. Salinas
Last week, I wrote an op-ed piece on one of the most troubling topics in our state, affordable housing. In advocating in the Sacramento Bee that our housing supply and affordability crisis must be top of mind for policy makers, I noted that without more housing opportunities within financial reach, we risk the California dream slipping away. I argued government and the private sector must collaborate to address barriers to more housing supply and seek creative solutions to funding and regulatory challenges.
As the Chamber evaluates state initiatives, we took a position to not support Proposition 10. This proposition will be before voters on the November ballot. Written and funded by the same organization that unsuccessfully tried to halt most construction in Los Angeles last year, this perhaps well-meaning, but misguided proposal would have the opposite of the intended effect.
Proposition 10 would repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Act of 1995, which set limits on the rent control policies local municipalities are able to impose, ensuring they cannot be more expansive than state law. It exempts single-family homes and condos from rent control restrictions and protects a landlord’s ability to raise a rent to market rate and invest in renovations when a tenant moves out of a unit.
There is no doubt that the high cost to rent a home is a major quality of life issue for Californians. However, expanding rent control does nothing to protect renters. It does not reduce rents or increase available units. It would actually make affordable and middle-class housing harder to find as rental units are removed from the market. Evidence suggests that even the possibility of changes to our rent control laws is causing housing construction to slow as developers question the dependability of the market.
The Los Angeles Times editorialized over the weekend in favor of Prop 10, even while admitting rent control isn’t the answer. They point to local control, stating that each city has their own challenges and need the flexibility to address, and they argue that research has shown that moderate regulations do not stymie housing production. What the editorial doesn’t mention is that language in Prop 10 gives activists control over enforcement, which would actually take control away from localities by allowing for extreme local ballot measures to be imposed and tying the hands of local governments to fix problems associated with them.
We are strong supporters of Props 1 and 2 on the ballot this year, which would provide bonds for affordable and veteran housing and allow dollars earmarked for the mentally ill to be used to house that community. But we stand with a large coalition of affordable housing advocates, labor and business groups, and bi-partisan legislators in advocating that Prop 10 will not create affordable housing, will not increase our supply of housing, but simply make our crisis worse.
I urge you to vote no on Proposition 10.
See the rest of the Chamber’s ballot recommendations HERE.
Comments
government need to keep the price of homes up to people feel wealthy and buy more and economy recover, side effect of that is bunch a greedy people know government have no choice they bet in it and keep making houses but in competing the cost keep going up and they keep selling more expensive and only them getting rich and many will get homeless in process that government have to pay for them. We do have huge stock pile of million dollar homes but not affordable one! If some one fix this problem greedy people will make less promises you they wont go away because no other state spend like us and tenant won?t keep getting evicted with many tricks to their houses get rented much higher.
Posted by: matt aziz @ 1:50:52 pm
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