Amid a housing shortage that has pushed low-income renters onto the streets and made it difficult for moderate earners to find affordable options, California lawmakers introduced new measures this year to reduce the high cost of living and avoid evictions .

What are California lawmakers doing to solve the housing crisis? A look at the new 2023 bills

Here are two

bills

help tenants

which has removed a major obstacle

and a proposal that flopped this week when the legislature took action

before an important deadline on Friday:

Passed: Deposit Limitation

the

California

The assembly easily passed a bill to ban landlords from charging more than one month’s rent as a security deposit.

Assemblyman Matt Haney, a San Francisco Democrat who authored Assembly Bill 12, said rising rents

have prices

has made it increasingly difficult for tenants to pay security deposits, which can be as high as three months’ rent, or more than $10,000 in some cities.

Newsom says the state is on track to reduce homelessness by 15%

“This means that in many parts of the country a deposit can be as much as a down payment on a house,” Haney said before the Assembly passed the measure. “This forces many families, including those with minimum wage earners, to forgo necessities such as food and utilities or take on more debt in order to get approved for housing.”

Groups representing landlords opposed the move, arguing that the lack of affordable housing units, and no security deposits,

Are

is the real problem facing renters in California, and that AB 12 would hurt homeowners.

“Charging security deposits allows providers of rental housing to weigh up the risks associated with renting out real estate,” says the California Rental Housing Assn. wrote in an invoice analysis.

“Without the ability to collect enough security deposits to cover potential damages, rental housing providers may decide to remove their homes from the rental market, further exacerbating the housing supply crisis.”

The bill is now being considered by the Senate, which has until September 14 to vote on it.

LA County’s eviction moratorium has expired. What does that mean for tenants Successful: reducing evictions

In 2019, the legislature struck a deal with landlords and realtors on a bill to establish new rules against evictions and limit annual rent increases to 5% plus inflation.

But Sen. Mara Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles) said those protections didn’t go far enough. Durazo introduced Senate Bill 567 this year to lower the rent cap to inflation, no more than 5% per year, and to strengthen oversight of allowable evictions to ensure landlords don’t exploit what she described as loopholes.

Under pressure from business groups, apartment associations and moderate Democrats, Durazo later removed the rent cap provision from the bill. But advocates pushed hard for accountability measures that would ensure landlords don’t use evictions to remove a lower-paying tenant only to later raise rents.

“We are all feeling the impact of the homeless crisis in our counties,” Durazo said during a Wednesday debate on the bill. “Part of what we need to do is stop the influx of families and people into homelessness.”

California tenants will see a cap on rent increases under the bill sent to Newsom

Durazo’s changes to the bill did little to convince the opposition. Republicans and a handful of Democrats opposed the measure

dishonest and

precious for

and unfair to

homeowners.

“This bill will affect most owners of small rental properties,” said Santee Republican Senate Majority Leader Brian Jones. “This bill goes a little too far.”

The measure narrowly passed the Senate and now heads to the General Assembly.

Failed: Expansion of rent management

Lawmakers this week overturned one proposal to give tenants more protection

Through

a measure to expand rent control.

State Senator Aisha Wahab (D-Hayward) introduced Senate Bill 466 to update a 1995 law that limited rent control in California and made some newer buildings eligible for the price cap.

“We are allowing landlords to raise rents with impunity while taxpayers foot the bill for a problem that could be mitigated if jurisdictions were allowed to adopt sensible rent regulation policies,” Wahab said during a Senate debate on Wednesday, as he held up a sleeping bag as props to make a point about the worsening homelessness crisis.

California voters twice rejected an expansion of rent control in recent elections. Landlord groups, including the California Apartment Assn., argue that rent control hinders construction and discourages homeowners from putting new homes on the market.

Why liberal California keeps saying no to rent control

That argument prevailed in the Senate on Wednesday, when SB 466 failed miserably

when

like it

S

at one time, Democrats withheld their votes or joined Republicans in opposing the bill.

It is unusual for Democrats, who control the legislature, to bring bills to the table knowing that they will fail because it exposes divisions among the ruling party.

Wahab said she expected her account to fall short, but it was important to see who would officially go for support.

“I think it’s important for advocates and activists to understand who will raise a difficult issue and who really cares about affordable housing,” Wahab said. “I thought it really mattered.”