Rent control initiative sweeps Los Angeles as midterms approach
It was the same story happening throughout the years: landlords and real estate companies increasing rent to unaffordable proportions. Inevitably, tenants would pack their bags and move out of their homes because they could no longer afford to stay.
Now, Mike Van Gorder, co-founder of the Glendale Tenants Union, is worried for his own family’s home.
“I’m doing all of this so that my wife and I, who are expecting our first child in September, can walk our child to school,” Van Gorder said at the Rent Control Coalition Kick-off event in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday.
Van Gorder recalled witnessing his neighbor, a 27-year Glendale resident, struggle with a $900 rent increase over five years after his apartment was rebranded as a “luxury rental oasis.” He also saw a young family’s rent increase $700 at once, in turn forcing them to move outside of their neighborhood and commute to their child’s school.
With rents quickly increasing, wages stagnant and evictions on the rise, Van Gorder fears he and his wife will be forced to leave the neighborhood he loves due to unaffordability.
“Our communities are bleeding residents to satisfy the unstoppable greed of predatory corporate landlords and the scrappy opportunism of property flippers,” said Van Gorder to the excited crowd of affordable housing advocates. “We value our community more than your right to take advantage of us for your own enrichment.”
Glendale, Inglewood, Pasadena and Long Beach are a few of the many neighborhoods in Los Angeles County fighting for rent control due to not being protected under the Rent Stabilization Ordinance, commonly known as RSO.
RSO ensures that any building built before Oct. 1, 1978 is protected against high, and unreasonable yearly rent increases.
In Glendale, the rent control initiative would regulate rental agreements capping them at under 4 percent. In addition, it would require landlords to give 60 days-notice to a tenant to vacate and 12 legal reasons for the eviction.
At the core of the rent control campaign is repealing the Costa Hawkins Act. The law was established in 1995 and prohibits landlords and real estate developers from applying rent control to apartments built after 1995.
According to California law, there is currently no maximum limit for rental increases. A landlord must give the tenant at least 30 days-notice if the rent increase is 10 percent or less, and a 60 day-notice if the rent increase exceeds 10 percent.
Cities in LA county with rent control such as West Hollywood, Los Angeles, and Beverly Hills fall under different rules.
The cost of living in Los Angeles is 43 percent above the national average and rents have increased 23 percent over the past five years, according to Rentjungle.com.
In March 2018, the average rental cost for a Los Angeles one-bedroom apartment was $2254. However, the median income is just $62,703, according to an estimate from U.S. Housing and Urban Development. This leaves many residents spending a whopping 43 percent of their income on rent.
More than half of LA homes are occupied by renters. According to a 2015 study by Adobo, 53.9 percent of LA residents were renters.
However, not everyone is convinced rent control is the solution to making housing affordable. To some experts, it’s an issue of supply, or lack thereof. What both experts and tenants can agree on is that California has not built enough housing to accommodate its population influx and booming economy. And a report from Harvard’s Joint Center For Housing Studies reveals Los Angeles is short 382,000 units to accommodate its low-income residents.
“You would create about one house for every one and a half jobs created, and we’ve been producing one house for every five or six jobs,” said Richard Green, University of Southern California professor of economics and Director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate.
Green said he understands why people are frustrated and why they’re looking for a tool to deal with higher rents, but does not think rent control will solve the issue because it is not targeted to a specific income bracket.
“If someone like me lived in a rent control building, we would still get the benefits of rent control even though there is no reason to get any kind of subsidy,” said Green. “You’re not doing this to make sure you’re helping the people who need help.”
Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti issued his support for the rent control initiative outside Los Angeles City Hall on Monday while protesters chanted, “The rents, the rents, the rents are too damn high.”
“Our hands are tied right now. For 15 years, people have asked me, ‘Would you like to have that control?’ This isn’t anything new for me. I’ve said, ‘absolutely,’” said Garcetti.
The Los Angeles campaign for rental caps and eviction limitations arrives after cities in the Bay Area were successful in securing enough signatures to get their initiative on the ballot.
“To say that housing is like any other commodity lacks critical thinking,” said Allison Henry, volunteer coordinator for Pasadena Tenants Union. “If your budget tightens, and you can’t drink Stella and you’ve got to drink Corona that’s just some bad luck, but if you’re without a home, you’re called homeless and that’s major.”
Derek Steele, community organizer for Uplift Inglewood said his coalition filed a petition with the city and has secured more than 13,000 signatures from Inglewood residents. They need only 2,000 more to get their rent control initiative on the ballot.
Steele said that it isn’t just renters, but also independent landlords, who are concerned about their neighborhood’s rental market.
“Even [my landlord] is feeling the impacts of what these corporations are doing in our community,” said Steele. “The market has gone up so high that she has to try to compete.”
In addition to pressure to keep up with market prices that are rapidly increasing, California also faces a housing crisis, and has seen an alarming rise in its homelessness population. LA witnessed homelessness surge 75 percent in the past six years, according to a study published by the Los Angeles Times in February.
“The time is now,” said Steele. “If we’re not doing things that are going to help people stay in place, then what is this all for? If we’re in a housing crisis in Los Angeles county, then where do the people go who are facing displacement?”
Los Angeles County neighborhoods aren’t the only ones fighting to secure affordable housing. Rent control initiatives also have statewide campaigns.
In Sacramento, The AIDS Healthcare Foundation ACCE Action and Eviction Defense Network started a ballot initiative to expand California’s rent control laws. The details of the proposed measure are similar to those of Los Angeles’ goals.
The future of rent control and affordable housing in Los Angeles is unknown, but its advocates are optimistic about its success.
“People are willing and eager and excited to sign the petition,” said Henry, “And we’re only becoming more of a renter majority, so this is a democratic issue.”
