The Christian Science Monitor

Rent control on ballot as California seeks a fix for housing costs

The startling dimensions of California’s housing crisis take shape through numbers. More than 134,000 people lack permanent shelter, accounting for a quarter of the country’s homeless population. Some 3 million tenants – more than half the statewide total – meet the federal definition of “rent-burdened,” spending at least a third of their income on housing. The state needs to add an estimated 3.5 million new housing units by 2025 to satisfy demand as the population grows.

The problem appears obvious. The proposed solutions, on the other hand, elicit conflicting opinions as reflected by the expensive fight over a ballot measure to remove restrictions on rent control that California voters will decide Nov. 6.

Proposition 10 would grant cities authority to create stronger rent stabilization policies than the state has permitted since lawmakers passed the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act in 1995. Named for its legislative authors, the law prohibits cities from capping rents on properties built since early that year and gives landlords a free hand to boost rents after tenants vacate units. The law also exempts condominiums and single-family homes from rent control rules.

The tussle over Prop. 10, which would

The L.A. experienceBuffer for tenantsThe redevelopment void

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