In pricey California, renters near respite from landlord gouging

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Omaha Steve (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Bloomberg

The housing crisis engulfing California has state lawmakers racing to pass bills that would boost construction and stop corporate landlords from egregiously jacking up rents.

The bills overcame key hurdles last week and are due for final votes before the legislature adjourns on Sept. 13. The hardest-fought measure would set a higher standard for evictions and cap annual rent increases at 5% plus the rate of inflation. While that’s below the typical pace of lease hikes -- and the bill has many caveats for landlords -- it would still mark the state’s most significant new protection for tenants in decades.

California’s housing shortage has led to soaring rents and home prices that are more than twice the national median, pushing residents further from their jobs and spurring some companies to relocate staff out of state. After the high-profile failures of a rent-control measure last year and a zoning bill in the spring, the latest legislation represents at least a modicum of progress in addressing the issue and will provide some relief to tenants, who’ve felt the brunt of the crisis.

“It at least stems the bleeding,” said Matthew Lewis, a spokesman for California YIMBY, an organization that advocates for more housing construction in the state. “There are a whole bunch of cities that have no rent control.”

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/in-pricey-california-renters-near-respite-from-landlord-gouging/ar-AAGUbyO?li=BBnbfcN

[lambchopp59]

1. Heavens I hope so

It's astounding now to recall paying $380 a month for a nice, roomy studio with a fireplace in the 1980's in the city, Hayes Valley! Listings now start at TEN TIMES that. Admittedly, the building I was in is gone, but so is some of the personality the neighborhood had. One of my neighbors, an old lady who had been there all her life, sold sweet potato pies on the street to pay her rent, which thanks to rent control at the time was less than $100 a month.
The Manhattanization effect has cranked up rents for a large radius to the bay area, originally I had planned on retiring somewhere East Bay. No way I can afford it anymore and plan on fancy things like... eating food. .

[whathehell]

3. Its about time...

In 1971, I.was renting a studio in the Mission for $90 a month.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

15. My cheapest was 360$ studio

2 blocks from beach. 1997-99.

Condos now.

[CountAllVotes]

22. Entire house on Page street

The entire place for $225/mo.

Gone are those times -- 1972 or thereabouts.

[iluvtennis]

2. I'm getting ready to retire in a few years and there is NO WAy I can afford to live in the Bay area

(...currently live in San Mateo where I pay $2990 for a 2 bedroom apartment...). After I'm no longer working, I won't be able to afford it. Am looking at options to move from my native California to another state for my retirement days.

So glad to see some more rent control coming

[Mr.Bill]

8. You don't have to leave California to get reasonable rent.

I live in Lake County and you can rent that apartment for half that much here. The weather is not quite as nice here as in San Mateo (I used to live in Belmont) but it's a great place to retire.

[iluvtennis]

20. aww, great info. thank you. nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

24. We had that same where to afford retirement issue

when we were in the Bay area, after watching the housing boom.

Our goal was to get more house for less money, and be able to afford mortgage payments.
And to live in a small area, away from crowds and freeways and noise and etc.

The answer for us was where I had worked for years, in a small Alabama town.
Even the close-to-the- beach, lots of shopping areas in Mobile and Pensacola were pretty affordable, but ..climate change...bigger hurricanes, rising house insurance costs, and for Mobile, hellish traffic.

So we went inland, got a lovely home at 1/4 price ofthe 2005 cost of housing anywhere else in Cal., or the whole West coast, as it turned out.

Not everyone is that mobile, but I have seen in the last 15 years a lot of folks finding great places to live in the less touristy areas of the South as populous urban areas become too pricey.
Equity in a Cal. home can buy a lot of retirement still around here.

[iluvtennis]

25. good recommendation, thanks dixiegrrrrl. nt

[CountAllVotes]

4. This seriously needs to happen like yesterday

So many Californians have had to leave the state as they can no longer afford to live in the state.

The last place I rented was a 2-bedroom dump and the cost was $400 a month so you did not move.

That same place is now $1200+ a month.

This is so unfair!

Some fat cat landlord is reaping profits while people live in rentals that are too often like the last rental that I lived in.

& recommend.

[mysteryowl]

5. I just looked at apartment rentals in California on Craigslist

I think I was looking in Sacramento and I saw 1 bedroom apartments, 720 sq ft., for $3000/month.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

7. Wow that's worse than Seattle

Last edited Fri Sep 6, 2019, 10:47 PM - Edit history (1)

$1500 to $2000 seems to be the going rate.

I remember my rent for a large 1 bedroom was $330 in the mid 1980s.

[sharedvalues]

10. Because we don't build enough apartments. NIMBYS stop it.

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/05/california-again-kills-upzoning-bill-to-spur-new-housing.html

https://www.kqed.org/news/11666284/5-reasons-californias-housing-costs-are-so-high

5 Reasons California's Housing Costs Are So High
Why are California housing costs so high? At its most basic level, it’s a story of supply and demand -- lots of people want to live here, and there aren’t enough homes to go around.

[mysteryowl]

12. Are you noticing a shortage of workers in lower paying jobs?

Since you live there, I am asking.

[sharedvalues]

17. Yes

Link to tweet

[mysteryowl]

19. Indeed.

[sharedvalues]

6. I'm sorry what we need is BUILDING.

We in California are not building enough homes. Not even close!!! Palo Alto has built approximately zero new housing units in the past 10 years. So it's no surprise rents there are higher than almost anywhere else in the nation.
Why did Palo Alto not build more housing? Because NIMBY homeowners don't want denser housing.

That's the problem.

The answer: upzone, build apartments Buid 6 unit buildings. Build build build. Supply and demand.

[mysteryowl]

9. I think small houses should be part of the plan.

Many people want to own a house and need to be given that opportunity.

[sharedvalues]

11. They can own a condo too.

Small homes are fine as well, as long as we can put 6 small homes on a typical single family house plot, like a 6-unit building can.

[mysteryowl]

13. Indeed, there should be a state run task force working on ideas

and implementing them. Not all the new housing should be rentals. People want to build equity and have the freedoms of ownership.

[Johnny2X2X]

14. It's complicated.

Need construction badly. Has to happen.

Here’s the catch. How do you tell homeowners who just spent $1 Million on a modest home that because of new construction their home value will go down considerably?

[sharedvalues]

18. Like this

“Because of new construction your home value will go down.”

“But you live in a society and we need more housing. And people want to live here. Your home value will go back up.”

[eggplant]

16. My upstate NY 3br 2ba house on 5 acres is less than $1500/mo mortgage+taxes.

Just sayin'.

[iluvtennis]

21. nice.

[Jake Stern]

23. That's a big part of why folks are looking down South

I paid less in total for my 27,000 sq. ft. parcel in Mississippi than 2 months rent for a 500 sq. ft. Santa Clara studio.

[Omaha Steve]

26. After a review by forum hosts....LOCKING

This is analysis plus prospective. It might be LBN when this becomes law.