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State committee rejects bill to expand rent control options for California cities

State committee rejects bill to expand rent control options for California cities

01/11/2018 4:09 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A state assembly committee voted Thursday to reject a bill with broad implications for the ability of California cities to impose rent control restrictions on local landlords.

The bill would have repealed the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which exempts newly constructed housing from rent control laws and prevents cities from limiting a landlord’s ability to raise rents on a unit after a tenant moves out.

Hundreds of residents from across California packed the Capitol building to speak for and against the measure—so many that the committee had to restrict public comment to a simple yes or no statement.

Assemblymember Richard Bloom of Santa Monica, who authored the bill, told the committee that a repeal would not create “statewide rent control,” but would simply provide local governments with the power to make their own rules.

But opponents of the bill argued that cities would use this freedom to impose legislation that would hurt landlords and steer developers away from markets like San Francisco and Los Angeles, where the housing supply is slim.