Prop 10 and Its Oppositions

 

YI-FENG HO Staff Writer

 

With the midterms coming up, many laws all over the United States may be subject to some change. California is no exception with 11 different propositions potentially being passed to change its laws. One of the propositions is Proposition 10, which deals with rent control. Under this proposition, local governments will have the power to control rent within their own communities.

Rent control was already in place in the state of California before, but due to the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act of 1995, rent control was limited. However, due to the high pricing of houses, the upcoming election is having a vote to repeal this law. If this proposition is put into place, the local governments will have its rent control powers returned, potentially lowering rent up to 50 percent of what it is currently. Also, even though the rent would be controlled, it still allows for the landlords to increase the rent yearly.

Despite lowering rent drastically, many still oppose the potential passing of proposition 10. These opponents of the proposition believe that it may lower the number of houses that could be rented out. This is due to the possibility that landlords could lose more than $100million worth of rent per year. With such a drastic loss of income, these landlords might be disincentivized to rent out their houses to people who do not want to live in apartments.