Posted by
Playful Walrus on Saturday, April 26, 2008 9:04:24 PM
Governor Schwarzenegger is against Proposition 98. Makes me wonder what he's planning. It is a proposition to restore some limits on eminent domain, and also to phase out rent control.
Now, the first reaction of the Leftists is to scream about all of the old, disabled folks who rent and will be thrown out into the streets. Makes me wonder where these people are when someone talks about the need to get rid of Prop 13, which helped to keep OWNERS like widows from being thrown out of their homes due to rising property taxes. But getting back to Prop 98 - it explicitly preserves the rent control for existing rental situations. It is only AFTER the current renters leave or die that the rent control goes away.
Now, I realize that there may be some desperate landlords out there who will try to get people to leave to they can raise rents and try to earn money off of their property instead of losing money on it, but housing laws favor the resident/renter so strongly in California, I can't see this being a big problem. It would be very easy to get a civil judgment or restraint against a landlord who tried such end-runs.
Opponents of Prop 98 will be quick to point out that those who stand to gain from it support it. Well, duh. People are so quick to demonize someone who is providing other people a place to stay. I don't blame landlords for supporting this. As things are now, I would never be a landlord. I'm sure there are other people who feel like me. That means fewer places to rent, and higher rents.
You can read a recent article on the proposition by Dana Bartholomew of the Los Angeles Daily News here.