Victory Editorial Alert: Pomona Takes No Action on Rent Stabilization…Yet
Victory Editorial Alert
Pomona Takes No Action on Rent Stabilization…Yet
By Janet M. Gagnon
Senior Vice President, Government Affairs & External Relations
On November 18th, the Pomona City Council declined to take any action on creating a permanent rent control ordinance and rental registry with a new registration fee, paying private attorneys to defend renters during legal evictions (a/k/a, “Right to Counsel”), imposing a mandatory habitability program with a new fee or establishing a direct rental assistance program for renters facing emergencies. Instead, the City Council directed staff to bring back additional information in February 2025 to further discuss all these issues. We are truly thankful for this respite for the remainder of the year!
This delay means that the two new City Council members (replacing Council Members John Nolte and Robert Torres) who have been duly elected by the community to serve will be seated before these issues are discussed and decided upon. Also, it gives owners with properties in Pomona time to write personal emails to the continuing five City Council members as soon as possible expressing their personal stories of being responsible rental housing providers and how these costly and unnecessary regulations would seriously harm their ability to continue providing much needed affordable rental housing in the city and may ultimately cause them to sell their existing properties to corporate for conversion to luxury housing.
Our Extensive Advocacy Efforts
AAGLA attended the meeting in-person and zealously argued against these harmful policies and in favor of establishing a direct rental assistance program. We also sent a formal comment letter in advance of the meeting. We were joined at the meeting by the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership (SGVEP) and Pomona Chamber of Commerce who also spoke out against the proposals as they would lead to shrinking of the supply of affordable housing as small owners are forced to sell their properties.
Discussion That Transpired at the Meeting
There of discussion by Council Member Nora Garcia who wrongly believed that if existing rental housing providers are driven out of business by a drastic, permanent rent control ordinance and new rental registry fees that somehow, magically renters may be able to purchase the properties for themselves. Clearly it is highly unethical for the City Council to purposefully drive law-abiding private property owners out of business in the hope of stealing their properties to benefit other individuals.
That moral crisis aside, it is equally ridiculous to believe that renters would be the winning bidders on such properties if they were put up for sale. Renters that are allegedly living paycheck-to-paycheck, do not have the financial resources for a downpayment on the property, nor are they likely to qualify for a mortgage, and nor do they have the disposable income to pay for major repairs and maintenance on these older properties. Additionally, such renters would not have the extra income to pay for annual property taxes, homeowners’ insurance, monthly mortgage payments, and private mortgage insurance. Further, the city’s renters certainly do not have the deep pockets of corporations that can offer far more to purchase the property in order to turn it into luxury housing that will fuel gentrification.
Council Member Garcia also made false statements about the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles now requiring that attorneys be present for renters at all legal proceedings for evictions. In fact, neither local government has such a requirement. Rather, these local governments use some taxpayer dollars out of their annual budgets to fund private attorneys to represent a few low-income renters. As we know, paying attorneys does NOT stop an eviction but merely delays it slightly. Instead, Pomona should be focusing its scarce resources on preventing evictions entirely by providing direct rental assistance to low-income renters that have fallen behind due to sudden illness, injury or job loss. Paying the back rent owed before an unlawful detainer action has been filed is the only way to completely prevent evictions.
There was also considerable discussion led by Mayor Tim Sandoval about code and safety violations at particular properties. AAGLA supports maintaining safe and habitable buildings by the city conducting complaint-based inspections. However, we strongly oppose any new program that is a mere “fishing expedition” and that would burden all good owners with new fees for the actions of a few bad actors. Thus, such a program should be based on actual complaints made by renters to target bad owners and be funded solely by penalties assessed after inspections have been conducted by the City and notice given to the owner with a proper amount of time to remedy specifically identified deficiencies.
We urge our members to email the Pomona City Council now and express their strong opposition to permanent rent control, provide personal stories of how you operate as responsible rental housing providers in Pomona, and how these bad policies will force you to sell to corporate owners thereby reducing the supply of affordable rental housing.
This article is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions regarding your property or specific tenancies and the requirements of any local law changes described herein, please consult with an attorney.
AAGLA LETTER
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