Rent control measure on Sacramento ballot

[Lenny B.]

Came across this article on 2/22/18 https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2018/0....  Does anyone know the likelihood of Sacramento getting rent control ordinances? And is it going to affect Rancho Cordova, Carmichael, etc? 

Here is the text of the article in case you can't see it:

By Ben van der Meer – Staff Writer, Sacramento Business Journal

Feb 22, 2018, 4:43pm PST

In a sign that escalating rents in the city of Sacramento may have reached a tipping point, a group has filed with the city clerk’s office to collect signatures for a rent control measure.

The ballot measure would allow rents within the city to rise by no more than the percentage increase of Consumer Price Index, with a baseline set at the earlier of Feb. 20 or whenever a tenant first occupies a unit.

A notice of intent to circulate petitions to put the measure on the ballot was filed Tuesday.

Landlords would be able to evict tenants only under certain circumstances, such as failure to pay rent or violating lease terms. Tenants couldn’t be evicted in no-fault situations, with exemptions for situations such as owners moving into a unit or substantial renovations. In those cases or other specified large rent increases that cause displacement, landlords would have to pay relocation benefits, with increased benefits for the disabled, seniors and those living with minors.

The measure would also create a nine-member rent stabilization board to determine annual adjustments, hear petitions for individual rent increases and pursue remedies in court. Eight of those members, each from a corresponding city council district, would be elected, while the mayor would select the ninth.

State law restricts rent control only to apartments, homes and other housing units built before Feb. 1, 1995. A statewide ballot measure is in the works to repeal the restriction, after legislation to do so failed last month.

The notice of intent compels the city clerk’s office to prepare a ballot title and summary that could be used when petitions are circulated. That title and summary are due by March 7.

To qualify for the November general election ballot, the proponents would need to collect registered voter signatures equal to 10 percent of the ballots cast in the city in the most recent gubernatorial election, in 2014. About 100,000 voted in that election, so the signature collectors would need about 10,000 signatures.

Three people are listed as signatories on the notice of intent: Margarita Maldonado, Omega Brewer and Michelle Pariset. Maldonado and Brewer are officers with local chapters of the Service Employees International Union, while Pariset is a policy advocate with the nonprofit law firm and advocacy group Public Advocates in Sacramento. Maldonado is also a board member with renter advocacy group Housing 4 Sacramento.

None of the three people listed on the notice of intent could immediately reached for comment Thursday. The notice of intent points out that rents in the city of Sacramento rose by 9.3 percent year-over-year in January 2018 according to Apartment List Inc. Other firms tracking rent trends have consistently ranked Sacramento's rent increases at or near the highest in the U.S. in the last couple years, citing a combination of limited housing supply, rising incomes form Bay Area transplants and a surge of apartment property investments as reasons for the surge.

Region Business, an advocacy group for local economic development, issued a statement Thursday opposing the potential measure.

“In the midst of a housing crisis, rent control is an illogical idea that only exacerbates the problem,” the group’s statement said. “In coming days, we will share with you our efforts to work with the California Apartment Association to create a strong coalition of business, civic and community leaders to oppose this radical policy.”