Burlingame rent control debate continues
Photo by rarrarorro
Housing can be tight in the Bay Area, which causes rents to rise to near unaffordability for many working tenants trying to keep up with rents. However, there is more than meets the eye when it comes to rental issues in Burlingame and other California cities. There is a battle royale going on in many cities between those who believe that the free market can solve many problems with housing availability and those who believe that the only way to get a handle on housing costs is the use of government control.
History of rent control in Burlingame CA
As of November 8, 2016, those who believe in the free market have the upper hand as a result of a city ballot initiative. The ballot initiative was dubbed Measure R.
In that election, Burlingame voters were asked to vote yes or no on a proposition that worked this way.
A YES vote meant that the voter approved of repealing a previous city measure that prohibited rent control and establishing a rent control commission. The initiative provided for a policy limiting rent increases to a range of one to four percent.
A NO vote meant that the voter favored keeping the city ordinance prohibiting rent control, thus preventing any rent control measures.
Ballotpedia reported that the results of the ballot measure was that 66.7% percent of voters disapproved of this measure and 33.3% approved.
Pros and Cons regarding rent control as outlined on the PocketSense website:
- Pros for Tenants
Occupants of rental property falling under rent control can trust that there is a cap on how much their rent can increase annually. This may help prevent rental costs quickly climbing higher than income.
- Cons for Tenants
When operating in an efficient free market, both buyers and sellers (i..e. tenants and landlords) can generally find a price upon which they can agree. This means that if prospective tenants do not agree with landlords’ pricing, they can find another place to live. Also, if tenants do not like the size of rent increase, they can move. Many cities covered by rent control have only a limited number of rental properties bound by a rent control ordinance.
- Pros for Landlords
Tenants in rent-controlled property are more inclined to stay put for the long term because their rent is such a good deal in comparison to the standard rental market. This can keep a steady cash flow from tenants who consistently pay their rent on time.
- Cons for Landlords
There are two disadvantages in regard to owning rent-controlled property. First, landlords cannot charge rent increases dictated by the market. For instance, market rents in their community may increase by six percent, but they are stuck with charging something like a 1.9% increase. This can result in a considerable loss. Additionally, the freedom to evict tenants or raise rent based on property improvement is limited. As a result, these landlords are stuck with low-rent tenants until they choose to move.
State level attempts to deal with housing supply
There is a bill (Senate Bill 50) that has been brought up in the California legislature. This bill attempts to solve the housing supply crisis by eliminating single-family zoning in major cities in the state. This would allow for more the construction of denser housing developments with easy access to transit lines. However, according to the Curbed San Francisco website, the bill has been suspended for a vote until 2020.
