13 Reasons Why You Should VOTE NO on the “Justice for Tenants Act” in November!

The below article was written by Michael Millman, Esq., an AOA member.

1. The “Justice for Tenants Act” is merely the identical or substantially identical attempt to destroy the protections of Costa Hawkins, i.e., vacancy decontrol as Proposition 10 and Proposition 21, sponsored by Michael Weinstein of the AIDS Foundation that was defeated several years ago.
2. It would destroy the incentive for building very affordable housing in California.  California developers will relocate to Texas, New Mexico, Florida, Arizona, Nevada and other hospitable states.  California is already over-regulated.
3. Next, there will be an attack on Proposition 13.
4. If passed, local housing or rent control bureaus will control all aspects of housing, including inspections, registrations, code enforcement and of course, setting rents on vacant units.
5. Enormous, out of control, bureaucracies will be established – as always.

VACANCY DECONTROL

1. If you have a home, accessory dwelling unit or an apartment that becomes vacant, then some bureaucrat at the Rent Control Authority may be tasked with the obligation and responsibility of setting the rent.  If he or she believes that the rent should be set at comparable or similar prices to the 1960s, then that will be the new rent.
2. There will be an appeal process, but the Rent Authority will always side with the tenants and after years of battles, administrative hearings and legal proceedings, the owner will always lose.
3. If you own a home and want to rent out a single room, you’ll be regulated and controlled.  If you have a short-term vacation rental, you will also be controlled.
4. Those individuals who are leaders in hospitality unions or other union officers will get preferential selection in the rental units by SMRR.
5. Every residential property, regardless of designation, will be required to register and pay as much as $500 per door as a registration fee; will be subject to periodic code enforcement inspections and all policies will be set by the local rent control authority without exception.
6. There is no correlation between homelessness and rental prices, as confirmed by a Stanford University study approximately four years ago.
7. Governor Newsom strongly opposed Proposition 10 and Proposition 21 as he believed that every owner should have the unfettered, unvarnished and absolute right to set rent on vacant units.
8. The intrinsic value of your home, condo, apartment building or ADU will probably drop by 40% or more.