Rent control

Over 100 tenants of the Creekview condominium complex at 3535 El Portal Drive have 60 days to find a new home.

They are being forced to move out as a result of a mass eviction by the complex owner, PMI Property, a Beverly Hills investment company.

PMI gave tenants until October 15 to vacate the property so the apartments can be renovated due to extensive mold damage.

But tenant Eric Hattrup believes Richmond’s November ballot Measure L, which would limit evictions and impose rent control, is the other reason he and other tenants are being thrown out now.

Four seats are opening up on the Santa Rosa City Council this year, and with two incumbents bowing out, voters soon will have a significant say in the political priorities for the North Coast’s largest city.

Housing, homelessness, roads and cannabis regulation are all on voters’ minds this year, but one issue is dominating the city’s political discourse: rent control.

The controversial policy, passed Aug. 29 and set to go into effect Friday, has not only split the City Council down the middle, but it has sharply divided the six candidates, as well.

Political fervor is boiling over with nearly $1 million being shoveled into fiery campaigns regarding measures Q and R — controversial ballot measures seeking to institute tenant protections.

The debate over the merits of rent control has created a deep divide in San Mateo and Burlingame where opposition groups have a steady stream of campaign financing, while proponents are contrasted by a slower trickle of donations.

The article, “Rent control spreading to Bay Area suburbs, to economists’ dismay,” (Sept. 10, 2016), to our dismay does not quote a single economist who has evaluated the ballot measures in question. In fact, economists have not objectively studied rent control as it exists in California. Decades ago economists weighed in on New York’s “classic” rent control and haven’t taken a serious look at the policy since.

City officials oppose Measure R, the ballot initiative attempting to establish rent control in Burlingame, due to concerns the proposed policy is too far-reaching and rife with potential legislative pitfalls, according to the ballot argument.

With the heated debate over tenant protection measures fueled by the region’s housing crisis now slated to dominate San Mateo’s November election, proponents and opponents of a citizens’ initiative to institute rent control outlined their ballot arguments.