Campaign to expand rent control in California says 3rd time’s a charm

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — It’s a years-long effort to expand rent control in California.

Proponents of the Justice for Renters Act say they’ve gathered enough signatures to put it on the ballot in 2024.

During a campaign launch at L.A. City Hall on Thursday, supporters gathered, holding signs that read, “The rent is still too damn high,” echoing their past slogans.

Among the supporters is labor and civil rights leader, Dolores Huerta.

“We owe it to all those families out there, the low-income families, the farmworkers,” Huerta told Eyewitness News. “People that they don’t have a lot of assets. They don’t have big bank accounts that they can fall back on.”

“I was ashamed. We defended the United States of America, but yet, we’re homeless. We were homeless,” said Basil Kimbrew of Veterans Voices.

Kimbrew is now a businessman campaigning for the measure.

“I want you guys to understand what it’s like to be homeless. That when you can’t pay your rent … I had no shoes, no underwear, no food,” he said.

The coalition has campaigned to repeal the Costa Hawkins Act before.

The 1995 California law limits rent control policies local governments can enforce. This measure would expand municipalities’ ability to apply rent control to newer buildings.

“We can’t have them getting 2% to 3% raises a year and then seeing their rents raised 10% a year,” said Brian Tabatabai, Mayor Pro Tem of the City of West Covina about supporting residents.

Roughly 60% of voters rejected similar propositions in 2018 and 2020.

Supporters and funders including the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and labor groups are appealing to voters again.

“Many of our members are the working poor, living paycheck to paycheck, couch surfing, and living in their cars or struggling to pay rent,” said Ada Briseño, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, a union representing food service, airport, and hotel workers.

The California Apartment Association opposes the effort and calls it an “anti-housing measure.”

The association told Eyewitness News that, assuming it qualifies, it will prepare to fight this latest proposition.