PHOTO/SERVE THE PEOPLE SAN JOSE
SAN JOSE, CA — If Californians vote in November to pass Proposition 10, known as the Affordable Housing Act, it would repeal the notorious anti-rent control Costa Hawkins Act in California. The weak controls imposed by Costa Hawkins have allowed California rents to rise so high that one-third of tenants now pay over half their income in rent.
The Proposition 10 battle is especially sharp because it directly challenges the right of property owners to raise rents and displace tenants to maximize profits. It is polarizing the Democratic Party, where 95% of convention delegates voted to support it, but party leaders like Gavin Newsom refuse to do so. Landlords and real estate profiteers have already raised over $20 million to fight the measure.
While we fight hard for Proposition 10, it is also important to understand it is only a partial solution. The California housing crisis is part of a national and even global economic system organized around private profit instead of meeting basic needs of human beings. As more and more workers lose their jobs to automation and downsizing, they do not have the money to pay for even rent-controlled housing. Ultimately the solution is a massive government takeover of corporate-owned housing and its transfer to the people who live in it, in the form of public housing, non-profits, or limited equity cooperatives.
Members of Silicon Valley Renters Rights Coalition spoke out on why they support the Proposition 10 repeal of Costa Hawkins.
Salvador Bustamante, Latinos United for a New America: Proposition 10 is the most sensible way to address the housing affordability crisis in California. It will give back to local municipalities the power to expand rent control. We need to stop forcing people to commute 2 to 3 hours each way to work just to live in housing they can afford. Displacement is not a solution to our housing crisis.
Milt Krantz, Affordable Housing Network: I am 81 years and have been a tenant in a San Jose HUD Low Income Tax Credit senior housing apartment complex for the last 14 years. Thousands of highly paid workers have been imported into Silicon Valley over the last few years by giant tech companies, without additional housing, and they continue to pour in. They are rapidly displacing long term residents, especially lower income renters who live in the quickly disappearing rent controlled housing units. California’s Costa Hawkins legislation allows landlords to raise rents to market value when tenants move out, and prohibits cities like San Jose from expanding rent control to units built after 1979, or to single home rentals or condos.
Ben Vo, De Anza Renters Rights Campaign: Many young people support repealing Costa Hawkins because it will allow California cities to strengthen rent control laws. Any step to protect tenants is a step in the right direction. When Bay Area investors raise rents to drive up their returns, more and more tenants get displaced. Repealing Costa Hawkins will give cities more power to prevent displacement.
Sandra Reid is co-editor of the People’s Tribune.
