By Hanna Wiley | The Sacramento Bee
Gov. Gavin Newsom signaled on Thursday that he wants to sign some kind of housing affordability law just after a controversial rent control proposal cleared its first committee in the Legislature.
“The California Dream is in peril if our state doesn’t act to address the housing affordability crisis,” Newsom said, thanking an Assembly committee for passing “renter protection” package.
He released his statement hours after a bill that prohibit landlords from raising rent by more than 5 percent above the Consumer Price Index passed the Assembly’s Housing and Community Development Committee by a 6-1 vote.
Critics say Assembly Bill 1482 bill could upset market stability, stymie development and financially hurt property owners. California voters in November rejected Proposition 10, a statewide rent control initiative.
But the bill’s principal author, Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, said lawmakers must act to protect renters from “egregious rent increases” in the meantime.
