by Randy Shaw on June 24, 2024 (BeyondChron.org)
Voters Back Expanding Rent Control
San Francisco’s 2024 elections have focused on public safety. That’s what made Aaron Peskin’s assertion last week at the mayor’s debate about extending rent control to vacant apartments so striking. Tenant issues once dominated San Francisco elections. They were absent from the mayor’s race until last week.
To be clear, Peskin could only bring San Francisco vacancy control if he is elected mayor and the statewide Justice for Renters Act ballot measure passes in November. The Act restores cities’ power to enact vacancy control, an option blocked by passage of the 1995 Costa-Hawkins law.
As discussed below, Peskin has backed expanding rent control in the past. Being the only mayoral candidate talking about increasing tenant protections could boost his chances. Pro-tenant voters want to hear candidates’ address renter issues.
Peskin’s rent control pledge drew no comments from other candidates. Many in the audience likely did not even know what Peskin meant when he referenced “Costa-Hawkins.”
Supervisor’s Resolution
The day after the debate featured a spirited argument at the Board of Supervisors over Dean Preston’s request to have the Board endorse the Justice for Renters measure. It was a real throwback to the past.
A candidate’s position on vacancy control defined San Francisco politics from 1979-1995. One was “moderate” or “progressive based on their vacancy control stance. This demarcation only ended in 1995 when the state banned cities from restricting rents on vacant apartments.
A candidate’s position on vacancy control drove virtually every supervisor’s election in the 1980’s. Pro-tenant supervisors increasingly won. Vacancy control twice passed the Board of Supervisors only to be vetoed by Mayor Dianne Feinstein. Vacancy control passed under Mayor Art Agnos but was then repealed in a November 1991 referendum whose timing made no sense for tenants (I explain this in The Activist’s Handbook).
At last week’s Board meeting supervisors Dorsey and Stefani promoted the new argument being made across the state. They argued that an initiative solely addressing Costa-Hawkins would somehow also overturn all state housing production laws. Or as Tim Redmond put it, it was “a NIMBY plot to stop new housing.”
This false claim reflects Costa-Hawkins’ undisputed failure. It failed to increase affordability. It failed to get more housing built. It’s big success was increasing landlord profits. That’s not a point one argues to win public support.
So the law’s backers trotted out a new claim that Costa-Hawkins prevents Republican cities from blocking affordable housing. Yet every Republican legislator in Sacramento supports Costa-Hawkins.
Costa-Hawkins Raised Rents Without Boosting Production
As I argue in Generation Priced Out, Costa-Hawkins is the chief reason for sharply rising rents in California’s rent-controlled cities over the past thirty years. Cities inability to cap rent increases on vacant apartments drove gentrification and displacement in San Francisco, Berkeley, Los Angeles, West Hollywood and other rent-controlled cities.
A lack of supply also drove up rents. But last week’s supervisor debate revived the falsehood that Costa-Hawkins encourages new housing while vacancy control deters it.
Backers of Costa-Hawkins said it would unleash a housing construction boom. This did not happen. If it had, there never would have been a need for a YIMBY movement in California.
The California Democratic Party endorsed the Justice for Renters Act. But opponents ignore this. They instead cite the opposition of two prominent state Democrats, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks and Senator Toni Atkins.
Wicks is great on housing production but neither she nor Atkins has any history of tenant advocacy or of strongly supporting tenant protections. Atkins did nothing to pass Ellis Act reform; she failed to use her senate leadership to help tenants.
Impact the Mayor’s Race?
If the Justice for Renters Act passes, vacancy control will be a top issue in virtually every future San Francisco mayor’s and supervisors’ races. But for this November the more relevant issue is the prospect of San Francisco expanding rent control when connected with an increase in density or an upzoning.
Peskin introduced a measure in 2022 that would have done precisely that. State law allows San Francisco to impose rent controls on new units created from density or height increases. Peskin’s proposal included a gap period for builders to get the benefit of unrestricted market rents and was a very thoughtful strategy.
Peskin’s plan to take it to the ballot in November 2022 got sidetracked. But making this rent control expansion a campaign priority could boost his support. He is not going to defeat his rivals running on public safety.
All those insisting that San Francisco’s longtime housing strategy is broken should be open to expanding rent control. It must be part of the longterm affordability solution.
Randy Shaw
Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco’s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw’s latest book is Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. He is the author of four prior books on activism, including The Activist’s Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century. He is also the author of The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco
Source: https://beyondchron.org/can-tenant-issues-impact-sfs-mayors-race/
