Democrats Defeat Repeal of Costa-Hawkins Anti-Tenant Law

The California Democratic Party once again showed itself to be the same as the Republican Party with the defeat of AB 1506, the repeal of the anti-vacancy control and anti-rent control Costa Hawkins law of 1995, on January 11, 2018 in committee, voting 3 to 2 to let it die in the Assembly Housing & Community Development Committee, with 2 Democrats abstaining. It needed 4 votes to get out of committee.

The possibility of putting it on the November 2018 ballot exists, but it will cost millions of dollars to win this repeal, which tenant organizations do not have.

The rent control prohibition applies to single family dwellings, condominiums or apartments built after 1995.

We have a supermajority Democratic Party Legislature and a Democratic governor, so there is no excuse for this vicious attack on the workingclass, the tenants who face homelessness or are homeless on any given day. If the Democratic Party had told all of its legislators to vote for AB 1506, it would have succeeded. San Francisco has 8,000 to 22,000 homeless, and those numbers are increasing daily. Lack of vacancy control means that once an apartment is empty, the landlord can raise the rent to any amount, which accounts for our high rents, so high that unless you have lived in your apartment for at least 20 years in a rent controlled apartment, you cannot afford to rent in San Francisco if your income is less than $100,000 a year, which is to say the entire workingclass.

This is not surprising to those of us who have seen this many times. The Democratic Party is just as much a pro-landlord, anti-tenant party as the Republican Party. Only Peace & Freedom Party and the Green Party always support tenants, rent control, vacancy control, and immediate housing of the homeless at wealthy taxpayer expense in whatever housing or luxury hotel rooms are available. California has 663,000 millionaire households including 124 billionaires, all of whom should by taxed to pay to house the homeless immediately. If you want housing for the workingclass, those of us who sell our labor for less than $80,000 a year, including those of us who have no income (9 million people in this country have no income), you need to register Peace & Freedom or Green. You can register online at: https://covr.sos.ca.gov/?language=en-US
For more information, see
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org/home/
http://www.cagreens.org/
http://www.gp.org