Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment along with Michael Weinstein is proposing a new ballot measure to repeal the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. The proposed ballot measure comes after the House Assembly bill AB 1506 failed to pass. To find out more about the proposed ballot measure, we sat down with Sturai Yusufi of Commercial Brokers International for an exclusive interview.

GlobeSt.com: What is the motivation to repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act?

Sturai Yusufi: This is something in the making because of the cost of housing going up and rental price increases. People are being displaced and homelessness is on the rise. Earlier ballot measures focused on affordable housing really enforced this conversation. With AB1506 not passing, now there is a greater push for the ballot. I think they would have had a harder time passing a house measure, and I think they will have better luck with the ballot because there are so many people who are in support of more affordable housing. In Los Angeles, there are more than 1.5 million people paying more than 50% of their income toward rent. When you have something like that, this is a ballot measure that a lot of people can get behind.

GlobeSt.com: What will be the impact if the act is repealed?

Yusufi: I don't think there will be an immediate change. This really opens the door for cities and local governments to have conversations about what kind of regulations and reforms that they need. It really opens the gate for these cities and local governments to make decisions for themselves. It would allow even greater variation between cities throughout California. You will have cities with a higher percentage of renters that will force the conversation when it comes time to voting for officials. It is going to become an important topic.

GlobeSt.com: We have seen several ballot measures in the past year that have been focused on solving or at least alleviating the affordable housing crisis. Is this a continuation of that movement?

Yusufi: I think this is a continuation attempt at making housing affordable for renters. Measure S, of course, didn't go through because limiting development wasn't the answer. This, however, will change the course of development. I think they will have a lot more backing as a result. No one can make the argument that this is a direct stopping of development. It is now a conversation about how this is going to affect development.

GlobeSt.com: How is the development community responding to the potential repeal?

Yusufi: They are not supportive if the appeal. From a developer perspective, putting caps on income will deter development and investment in projects that Los Angeles needs. I don't see that this will reduce development because the demand is so high. It might affect some developers and deter some developers, but it will create demand from development of affordable housing because the demand is so strong. We are so under developed that it won't go away, but it may shift.

Instant Insights /

New Ballot Measure Repeals Costa-Hawkins

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