C.A.R. statement on proposal to repeal Costa-Hawkins law

LOS ANGELES, April 26, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS^® (C.A.R.) today issued the following statement in response to the proposed Affordable Housing Act, which would repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act:

The California Association of REALTORS® understands that, however well-intentioned, rent control is nothing more than a thinly-veiled version of government-mandated price control that doesn't work.

Both San Francisco and Los Angeles have rent control policies that have done little, if anything, to rein in housing and rental costs. San Francisco's current median home price is $1.6 million, and the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $3,400ⁱ. In Los Angeles, those numbers are $529,000 and $2,250ⁱⁱ, respectively.

"At a time when California is struggling to build enough homes to satisfy the demands of an expanding economy and its 39 million residents, now is not the time to enact rent control," said C.A.R. President Steve White. "What's more, mandating artificial prices for rental units won't fix the state's housing supply and affordability crisis. It only reduces the supply of rental properties and creates an economic hardship for low-income and disadvantaged families."

"The solution to this affordability problem is to expand the housing stock in California, not introduce price ceilings," White added.

In 2017 alone, C.A.R. supported a number of bills aimed at increasing the supply of affordable housing and helping California's housing crisis including:  AB 494, which helped clarify issues and resolve problems which had arisen with respect to accessory dwelling unit (ADU) construction; AB 678 and SB 167, which helped strengthen the Housing Accountability Act; AB 352, which helps construction of "efficiency units;" SB 2, which utilizes a surcharge on recording fees to supply on-going funding for affordable housing programs; SB 38, which streamlined affordable housing production; SB 229, which also helps ADU construction; and SB 540, regarding workforce housing opportunity zones.

C.A.R. also supported the recent SB 827, which failed in its first committee hearing last week.

Leading the way... ® in California real estate for more than 110 years, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS^® (www.car.org) is one of the largest state trade organizations in the United States, with more than 190,000 members dedicated to the advancement of professionalism in real estate. C.A.R. is headquartered in Los Angeles.

ⁱ April 2018, Zumper
ⁱⁱ April 2018, Zumper

SOURCE CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS