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Rent Control Advocates Hope To Get Measure On 2020 Ballot

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Proposition 10 might have failed last November, but some backers of the rent control initiative aren't ready to give up.

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced Tuesday that a group looking to expand local authority to enact rent control on residential property received the green light to begin gathering signatures for what they have dubbed the Rental Affordability Act.

The act would allow local governments — both city and county — to establish rent control on residential properties that are more than 15 years old. It would also allow rent increases on rent-controlled properties of up to 15% over three years from a previous tenant's rent above any increase allowed by local ordinance.

The initiative would exempt individuals who own fewer than two residential dwellings from rent control policies. In accordance with California law, the measure provides that rent control policies may not violate landlords' right to a fair financial return.

Advocates from the Los Angeles-based group, Housing Is A Human Right, filed paperwork in April of this year to begin the citizen initiative ballot measure process. The group tweeted that the housing affordability crisis demands "bold action".

Proponents include Michael Weinstein who was also a proponent of Proposition 10, the failed initiative on the November ballot that would have repealed the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which bans local rent control on single-family homes and housing units built after 1995.

In order for the measure to qualify for the November 2020 ballot, the group must get valid signatures from 623,212 registered voters, or 5% of the total votes cast for governor in the 2018 election. The signatures must be submitted by Dec. 23 of this year.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)

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