A recent housing event (Photo – Ryan Bell)
Measure H, Pasadena’s first rent control measure passed by voters, is being challenged by a state landlord advocacy group and a group of local landlords.
By Briony James
The measure, which took effect on December 22, 2022 was lauded as a necessary win for all local renters in an area where neighborhoods are regularly priced out and have little recourse.
The landlords contend that the measure would only create bureaucracy. They also claim it isn’t an amendment to the city charter, but a total revision, and that it’s tenant board seats are ‘discriminatory against property owners’. Additionally, they claim the law may be in violation of a 1995 state law on rent controls, the Costa–Hawkins Rental Housing Act, that exempts some properties. The suit was filed the day the law took effect and seeks an injunction to halt it.
A trial conference between the plaintiffs, the California Apartment Association and several Pasadena property owners, and the defendants, the City of Pasadena and its City Council, has been set for March 30, 2023.
So the Ides of March will be followed by the Lies of March.