Endorsement: No on Proposition 33.
This rent control measure could make the housing shortage worse.
In California, about 55% of renters pay more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities. That makes them “rent-burdened,” according to experts. More than a quarter paid over half their income on rent — making them severely burdened.
For decades, some cities and counties have used rent control to cap yearly increases on tenants as an imperfect but necessary answer to keep people from being priced out of their homes. A 1995 state law called the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act restricts local governments’ ability to expand rent control, and there have been multiple efforts, including two unsuccessful ballot initiatives, to amend or repeal it.
More than 20 cities and counties in California, including Los Angeles, have adopted rent control, but Costa-Hawkins prohibits them from applying rent control to properties built after 1995 (or earlier in cities that already had rent control), single-family homes and condominiums and vacant units.