High Rents Block Housing Access for Many

High Rents Block Housing Access for Many

By Janet Garcia

The rental increase in Sonoma County is pushing people out of the market. “Adding to increased tension between landlords and existing or prospective tenants, North Bay housing rental prices shot up in 2021, with some counties showing double-digit rises year over year.
A San Francisco-based rent data research firm reported.” When applying for a rental in Sonoma County one must first meet requirements in order to get approved to live there. These requirements are enforced in order to show the property owner and/or property management company that you can afford to pay rent and will be held responsible if the home is damaged in any way.

So, what exactly are the requirements that homeowners and property managements look for? Well, they want to make sure the potential renter can make three times the rent, have no past delinquencies with rentals or utility companies, have a good credit score and have good past rental history. However, with the constant rise on rents people who first applied and got approved may sometimes no longer fit the critical of making 3 times the rent once the price is raised.

So, the question remains, why have rental requirements if down the road the person living there can longer meet the requirements once enforced at the initial applying process? During the Pandemic the state tried to help curb the price hike to make sure people were not kicked to the streets during a time of chaos. “A statewide rent control law enacted at the start of 2020 continues to limit rent hikes for many units at 5% a year, plus the local rate of inflation, or 10%, whichever is lower.”

Janet Garcia is a Sociology student at Sonoma State University.