Breaking: Sacramento Inches Toward Statewide Rent Control

California leaders announced an agreement to enact strong tenant protections, says a release trumpeting Governor Gavin Newsom’s support for capped rent increases and just-cause eviction only. But we have been here before only to be disappointed by our Sacramento lawmakers. Because it is a rocky road from good intentions to signed legislation. Let’s look at what’s on offer.

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Rent Control & Higher Rents: Chicken-and-Egg Conundrum!

A Renters Alliance foot soldier forwarded a recent business section article from the Orange County Register titled, Fallout From State’s Rent Control Debate: More Rent Hikes. It caught my attention because it presupposes a familiar landlord argument: rent control leads to higher rents. Or is it that sharply higher rents lead to political support for rent control? Seems to me that this classic chicken-and-egg question deserves more thought than the premise implied by the article title.

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