Bell Gardens Delays Vote on Rent Control and Just Cause Eviction Ordinance Until August 22nd Meeting

Continue to Email the Bell Gardens City Council to Voice Your Strong Opposition!

At the August 8^th Bell Gardens City Council meeting, the Council postponed taking action on the proposed Rent Control and Just Cause Eviction ordinance until the August 22^nd City Council meeting.

After hearing extensive public comment from both rental housing providers and renters, Mayor Pro Tem Chavez and Councilmember Barcena advanced multiple motions that would have drastically reduced the proposed ordinance’s annual rent increase limits to as low as a “cap” of 3% or 50% of the Consumer Price Index whichever is less. Mayor Pulido voted no on each of the motions, indicating that the proposed ordinance and any changes should be discussed with the full Council present. Councilmembers Cortez and Flores were not in attendance during the meeting.

While these extremely problematic motions failed, it raises serious concerns and shows that at least some on the Council are supportive of adopting even more severe, restrictive rent increase limitations that would make it impossible for rental housing providers to cover ever increasing astronomical operational and building costs, let alone receive their constitutional right to a fair and reasonable return.

To review the full details of the ordinance, please click on the button below:

PROPOSED ORDINANCE

What You Should Know About the Proposed Ordinance

Limitations on Annual Rent Increases:

• Establishes limits on permissible rent increases to one rent increase within any 12-month period.
• The City Council are being provided with two options for the annual rent increase cap:
  • Limiting annual rent increases to no more than 3% plus the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or 5%, whichever is lower; or
  • Limiting annual rent increases to no more than 3% plus the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or 8%, whichever is lower

As referenced above, the annual rent increase limits could be changed to as low as 3% or 50% of the CPI, whichever is lower!!

• The base rent would be set as the rent that was in effect on April 11, 2022. This means that any allowable rent increases would have to be calculated using the rent amount that was in place on April 11, 2022.

• Allows housing providers with existing renters who are paying below market rents that are less than 80% of Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a comparable unit to increase rent by an additional up to 3% until the rent equals or exceeds 80% FMR for a comparable unit.

Limitations on Evictions – “Just Cause” Regulations:

• Establishes local “just cause” eviction regulations for at-fault and no-fault eviction – evictions allowed only if included in the list provided under the ordinance.
• Housing providers will be obligated to pay renters no-fault eviction relocation fees equal to three times the renter’s monthly rent in effect when the notice was served. If any renter residing in the unit is a qualified renter, as defined in the proposed ordinance: 62 years old or older, disabled, has one or more dependent children under the age of eighteen residing in the unit, meets the income limits of a “lower-income household” or has continuously lived in the unit for five years or more, the housing provider would be required to pay an additional relocation fee of one times the renter’s monthly rent in effect when the notice was served.

Rent Registration

• On or before September 30, 2023, and each year thereafter, rental property owners would be required to register all rental units in the City through the City’s rent registry platform and provide potentially confidential business information such as property and ownership details, rent paid, renter information, and housing services provided. After the initial registration of the unit, the owner will be required to update the registration within thirty days of a new tenancy or change in tenancy or ownership. The requirement also provides for broad allowances for the City to require disclosure of additional confidential information, under a provision stating, “any additional information reasonably required by the Department to implement this Chapter.”
• In order to fund the administration of the rent control ordinance and rent registration, fees, in an amount yet to be determined, would be paid for by the owner with an allowable pass-through of 50% to renters.

The proposed ordinance also includes anti-tenant harassment provisions, notice requirements, imposes administrative citations, civil and criminal penalties for violations and/or civil action.

The Association strongly opposes all forms of rent control. Rent Control does not equate to affordability, nor does rent control create more housing. In fact, it will only make housing more expensive and harder to find as the housing supply diminishes. Equally as important, implementation and administration of a local rent control measure is extremely costly, and typically paid for by the rental housing providers who are being regulated.

Assembly Bill 1482, the statewide comprehensive rent control and renter protection law, which took effect on January 1, 2020, has yet to be fully implemented due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and related government emergency measures that had been and continue to be in effect in Los Angeles County. As a result, the full impact of Assembly Bill 1482 has not yet been fully realized.

For well over two years, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and related government mandates in the form of moratoriums on evictions and rent increases, small business rental housing providers have experienced severe financial hardships, collecting little, if any, rental income and consequently depleting retirement and other savings or financing critical items with credit cards in order to maintain essential building operations.  As a result, many housing providers are now contemplating or being forced into leaving the business entirely. This adverse situation has only worsened due to tremendous increases in building operational and related costs which now include runaway inflationary pressures effecting our economy as costs for all types of goods and services rapidly escalate, with the current inflation rate at 9% or more.

Small business rental housing providers who are the majority of owners in Bell Gardens provide the City’s most affordable housing and following the past more than two years of challenging rent collections and now the proposed rent increase limits will leave many small owners with no other option but to sell their properties. This will certainly result in a loss of the City’s already scarce affordable housing as these properties will be purchased by developers that will convert them into condominiums or high-amenity, luxury rentals.

Let the City Council Know:

• Rent Control will not make housing more affordable for Bell Gardens renters and over the long term will only serve to harm the very individuals that the City is seeking to assist because rent control has been proven to reduce the quality and quantity of rental housing.
• Assembly Bill 1482 provides comprehensive requirements and protections, statewide annual rent increases are already capped inclusive of “just cause” eviction requirements, and relocation fees for no-fault tenancy terminations.
• Assembly Bill 1482 must be allowed to be in full effect for a reasonable period of time before the City can determine, what if any, additional local action is needed.
• That the City Council should not adopt extremely costly local measures which will be detrimental to the quantity and quality of the City’s rental housing stock and discourage future housing development. Other jurisdictions with rent control have administrative costs of over a million dollars, which has been shown to significantly increase over time.
• Throughout the pandemic, rental housing providers have made best efforts to work with the renters who have been financially impacted by the pandemic.
• Rental housing providers are already reeling from the severe financial impacts of the last two years coupled with ever-increasing building operational costs and you may now be forced to sell your property and the City will lose much needed affordable housing.

Equally important share your personal experiences on rent control and the severe financial challenges that you have gone through over last two years of the pandemic, the current effects of ever-increasing inflationary rates of 9% or more, on building operational costs and how your situation will worsen if this ordinance is adopted.

Council Members’ Contact Information: 

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