Mountain View rent control headed for November ballot? Initiative proponents submit signatures
Jun 14, 2016, 2:59pm PDT Updated: Jun 14, 2016, 3:07pm PDT
Mountain View resident Duc Duong (right) signs the last petition for the Mountain View rent control initiative before organizers submitted more than 7,300 signatures to the city on Tuesday.
Mountain View residents are likely to vote on rent control this November, according to the Mountain View Tenants Coalition.
On Tuesday, the Coalition submitted more than 7,300 signatures for a rent control initiative to the city clerk, according to Communications Organizer Daniel Debolt. Among other things, the initiative would tie maximum allowable rents to changes in the Bay Area Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation that has averaged a 2.5 percent annual increase over the last 10 years.
The next step is for the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters to count the signatures and verify they come from Mountain View residents. In order to qualify for the November ballot, the initiative must receive 4,671 valid signatures.
Debolt said the Coalition is confident they’ll have enough valid signatures, based partially on a study the group carried out on almost 1,000 petitions to determine the rate of invalid signatures. Debolt declined to share the percent the group found were invalid.
The initiative is opposed by the powerful California Apartment Association, a lobbying group for the rental housing industry, as well as the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors (SILVAR).
In an interview with the New York Times, CAA CEO Thomas Bannon said the group is planning to spend millions of dollars to defeat rent control initiatives across the state.
Tenant advocates in Burlingame and San Mateo are expected to submit signatures for their own rent control initiatives in the coming weeks.
Jessica Epstein, government affairs director for SILVAR, said the group is still working out what actions they’ll take to oppose the measure, but said it’s important for voters to know that the initiative does more than impose a cap on rent increases.
“This is 20-plus pages of policy,” she said.
If passed, the initiative would enact a just cause ordinance, which would require landlords to cite a specific reason, such as nonpayment or a lease violation, in order evict a resident.
Bryce Druzin
Economic development reporter
Silicon Valley Business Journal
