After California voters rejected Proposition 10, the statewide ballot initiative that would have allowed cities and counties to expand rent control, supporters of the measure are moving forward with other initiatives to help those affected by the state’s rising rents.
ABC10 sat down with Veronica Beaty, Policy Director for the Sacramento Housing Alliance to talk about the organization’s next steps.
What does an organization like yours and others who were pushing for this do now?
“We ask the same question we've been asking, which is, ‘How do we help the most renters as soon as possible?’ We want to look at what kind of tenant protections can be enacted immediately – whether that's revisiting the conversation about the mayor's temporary rent control proposal or looking at prohibiting discrimination against holders of housing choice vouchers.
I know you have a measure that you're looking at for 2020. What is that?
“The Sacramento Community Stabilization and Fair Rent Charter Amendment. That would enact rent stabilization and just cause eviction protections in the City of Sacramento. Even with Costa Hawkins in place, that could stabilize rents for 75 percent of Sacramento’s renters.
What do people need to know about these next steps?
“They need to know that the housing crisis and the homelessness crisis is a solvable problem. We saw some great progress with that [during the midterm elections] in the passage of propositions 1 and 2, and with Measure U. So, folks need to hold their elected leaders accountable to take the next steps to solve the housing crisis.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s Communications Director Mary Lynne Vellinga told ABC10 the mayor is not pursuing a cap on rent increases in Sacramento at this time.
“The city is pursuing a variety of other initiatives to improve access to affordable housing, including the recent decision to waive most impact fees for affordable housing projects, and a possible requirement that landlords offer 18-month leases.”
Vellinga added the mayor hopes to allocate some of the funds from Measure U to build more affordable housing to help those who are struggling with rising rents.
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