Downtown San Diego, Photo courtesy of Tyrel Johnson

Guest contributor, Ginger Hitzke, is a low-income housing developer who owns rental properties, yet still advocates for rent control and tenant protections. Despite polling that shows that Californians (including the 17 million renters) overwhelming support tenant protections, getting a bill passed has proven politically quite difficult. Ginger recently travelled to Sacramento to support a package of rent control bills which Grow the San Diego Way supports as well. Here is her point of view on the bills.

I have been in the development world since 1996 and a developer on my own now for 12 years – and I know personally the impact that having a stable home can do for a family. I do not come from wealth. I am a “first generation developer.” My mom was a single mom and worked as a waitress and a home health care worker earning slightly above minimum wage all of the years that she worked. We were always renters and we moved a lot because of the cost of housing – first in Illinois and then again in California. 

I now own 449 rental units in 7 apartment complexes that I personally developed from the ground up. I own 16,700 square feet of commercial real estate and 6 single family homes in San Diego County. Let me be clear – my business is not a charity – but California’s housing market is out of control and we must regulate rent increases. Too many families are being pushed into homelessness all because we force them to pay whatever the market will bear. I have created housing, and I know that we can build even more housing while still protecting tenants at the same time.

Let’s put this into perspective for my fellow homeowners. Can you imagine what would happen if every time someone bought your mortgage, they had the right to increase the interest rate to whatever ‘market’ level they deemed necessary in order to make a profit they deemed sufficient? Imagine how often your mortgage would be traded and how quickly your rate would rise and how much of your income would need to put toward your mortgage just to stay in your home. Can you imagine if interest rates weren’t regulated and could even double or triple in a single year? 

This is what happens with apartments. Each time someone new buys an apartment building, there is no limit on what is a ‘reasonable profit’ for the new buyer to seek through rent increases. Our system is far from just broken – it’s unsustainable.

That is why I am supporting the legislative package to Keep Families Home. This legislative package is made up of three bills:

AB 36 authored by Assemblymember Bloom, will reform Costa-Hawkins to allow cities to expand protections for renters if they so choose. 

AB 1482 authored by Assemblymember Chiu, will provide stability to all renters in California by preventing rent gouging and dramatic increases in rents. 

AB 1481, authored by Assemblymember Bonta, will help protect all Californians from baseless and unjust evictions.

This legislation is about bringing fairness into our system and bring protections to the 17 million Californians that rent. Every modern market is regulated, all basic necessities such as food, water and energy, are regulated. Why not rents?

Simple, reasonable regulations of the rental housing market can help keep families in their homes. 

We should not be subsidizing greed. Investors should be able to receive a fair return but rent gouging and unfair evictions should not be the path to a reasonable return on investment. 

With millions of families just one rent increase away from eviction we must protect renters NOW. These protections will not slow the construction of housing but they will keep families home. Join me and tell your state legislators to support these bills.

Addendum: two of the three bills were heard on April 25 during the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee hearing. Assemblyman Chiu’s Bill, AB1482 made it out of the committee and will move forward with a rent increase cap of 5% over Consumer Price Index (which is stricter than Oregon’s recently passed bill). The second bill, AB36 by Assemblyman Bloom was pulled and will not move forward this year. 1481 is scheduled for next week.