California voters this November will decide whether to expand rent control statewide by repealing a 1995 law.
The Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act currently limits a local government’s ability to cap rents on newer properties and single-family homes.
Proposition 33, on the 2024 ballot, has reignited a long-running debate over how to address California’s housing affordability crisis, which lies at the core of issues ranging from homelessness to traffic congestion – and, ultimately, the quality of life.
Proposition 33 would allow cities and counties to enact or expand rent control ordinances to cover single-family homes, condominiums and properties built after 1995 or after a municipality enacted a rent control ordinance.
Rent control headed for the California ballot, again
Supporters of the proposition, including the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, argue that expanding rent control is critical to protecting tenants in a state where housing costs continue to soar.
Opponents, led by the California Association of Realtors and the California Apartment Association, warn that expanding rent control could have the opposite effect by discouraging new housing development and reducing rental property values.