Politically-active landlords are coordinating a campaign to stop a proposal from California lawmakers to slash yearly rent control caps — and it appears to have worked.
While Assemblymember Ash Kalra successfully advocated for his “Affordable Rent Act” proposal Thursday at the state Housing and Community Development Committee, further discussions with the Judiciary Committee led Kalra to withdraw the proposal Tuesday. Also known as Assembly Bill 1157, Kalra’s bill would permanently lower the existing rent control and cost-of-living rate in California from a 15% maximum increase per year, to a 7% maximum increase for tenants. Assemblymember Alex Lee, who also represents parts of San Jose, co-authored the bill, among other state lawmakers.
“I am grateful my colleagues on the Assembly Housing Committee acknowledged the pressing need to take action to support tenants statewide and stabilize the rental market,” Kalra said in a statement. “However, the robust debate coupled with subsequent discussions with Judiciary Committee members signaled more time is needed to work on the bill.”
Kalra said AB 1157 will become a two-year bill — meaning it can be continued to be discussed and considered into next year.
The California Apartment Association has been at the forefront of opposition to AB 1157, including groups such as the California Chamber of Commerce and California Mortgage Bankers Association, according to an April 1 letter shared with San José Spotlight by Mike Nemeth, spokesperson for the California Apartment Association.
“During (Thursday’s) committee debate, assembly members acknowledged the severe housing affordability crisis but remained divided on whether AB 1157 provided an appropriate solution,” he said. “The discussion centered on balancing immediate tenant stability against concerns that stricter rent caps could hinder housing production.”
Kalra said landlord interest groups like the California Apartment Association are trying to create the perception of widespread opposition to the bill in an effort to stir up division.
“If you look at the list of those opposed to my bill, they’re all apartment or realtors associations, but we have the support of renters and over 150 organizations statewide,” Kalra told San José Spotlight before he withdrew the bill. “(Thursday’s action) is a reflection that my legislative colleagues understand more needs to be done to protect California renters.”
Local affordable housing advocates, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, said their respective organizations have been hesitant to take a position on the Affordable Rent Act because they suspected the bill would be withdrawn early in the legislative process — as it was Tuesday.
Many landlords in San Jose who rent to low-income tenants don’t even raise rents high enough to be affected by the Affordable Rent Act, they said, since these renters are on a fixed incomes.
AB 1157 would update the Tenant Protection Act of 2019, extending tenant protections to single-family homes and making these safeguards permanent. Existing tenant protections provide some safety against extreme rent hikes and unfair evictions. The topic of rent control has been debated in the state, with California voters rejecting a ballot measure to expand rent control last year. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan also threw his opposition at the proposal.
The Rev. Rae Chen Huang, senior organizer for the Housing Now! Coalition, said their group of statewide advocacy organizations support Kalra’s bill. She said opponents of the bill are recycling the same talking points from the Tenant Protection Act discussions during COVID-19. Chen Huang said mobilizing support early and fast is key.
“The state has only put 0.5% of its budget toward housing and homelessness … yet (Speaker of the Assembly) Robert Rivas said housing is the biggest human rights issue of our time,” she told San José Spotlight. “It’s amazing that a lot of our elected (officials) are not necessarily working to make that a reality in our state, especially when we are considered a progressive democratic state.”
As the San Francisco Standard recently reported the California Apartment Association hired gig workers to speak in opposition to rent control measures, Chen Huang said detractors of the bill are using heavy-handed tactics to get their messages across.
Kalra said even at Thursday’s Housing and Community Development Committee hearing, some people looked like they didn’t exactly know what they were doing there.
“I can’t speak to whether folk are being paid or not, that’s a different conversation for others to have — I just know that the people that showed up in support reflect the real pain that California renters are feeling,” Kalra told San José Spotlight.
Michelle Pariset, legislative affairs director for Public Advocates, said landlord-interest groups and big developers have almost unlimited resources to fund not only opposition campaigns to squash the bill, but the politicians behind them as well.
“Beyond the tech market, real estate is among the richest industries in California, and we have to impress upon state legislators how hard it is to pay the rent,” she told San José Spotlight. “What we saw, particularly over the course of the pandemic, inflation was bonkers and every year rent was going up 10% consistently. No one’s wages are going up that fast.”
Contact Vicente Vera at [email protected] or follow @VicenteJVera on X.
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