The year may be coming to an end, but policymakers across the country continue to consider rent control. The National Apartment Association (NAA) is currently tracking 225 bills at the state level and 46 ordinances, resolutions, studies and ballot initiatives at the local level pertaining to rent control. Despite the decades of economic research demonstrating this policy’s failure to increase housing supply, this policy is still being widely considered.
San Francisco, California
With Proposition 33 back on the ballot – a measure that would remove the state’s limits on local powers to enact rent regulations – the city of San Francisco has been hard at work to preemptively enact more stringent rent regulation legislation in the event of the proposition’s passage.
On October 8, 2024, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance rolling back the rent control exemption from June 14, 1979 to June 13, 1994. While the originally introduced ordinance would have required all residences constructed before November 5, 2024, to be subject to rent control, the passage of the amended ordinance may subject another 16,000 residences to rent control.
While this ordinance will only go into effect if the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act is modified or repealed, the passage of Proposition 33 would do just that. NAA continues to track this ballot measure and others across the country pertaining to rent control and other key issues affecting the industry.
Salinas, California
Over the summer, Salinas, Calif. has been considering several ordinances targeting rent stabilization, just cause eviction and bolstering their existing anti-harassment law. First proposed in August, these ordinances moved rapidly through the legislative process and were passed on September 24, 2024. The incredibly stringent rent stabilization ordinance caps annual rent increases to no more than 2.75 percent, drastically below the state’s codified cap of 5 percent plus the local Consumer Price Index (not to exceed 10 percent in a twelve-month period). These ordinances will go into effect on January 1, 2025.
Other localities, like St. Paul, Minn. have tried to enact sweeping rent control provisions, and in their wake have seen a staunch decline in housing development in their jurisdictions. As policymakers continue to examine ways to alleviate housing instability and increase the supply of housing, it is imperative to sunset this policy and instead consider solutions to the problem as opposed to exasperating it. The data remains clear that rent control is ineffective at best, and deeply harmful at worst. NAA continues to partner with and support our affiliate network with the resources to push back against harmful policies and instead
For more information on rent control policy, contact Emma Craig, NAA’s Manager of Public Policy.