Rent Control - Part 10 Declining Rents

I've noticed an uptick in For Rent signs in B'game, especially along El Camino.  As I was wondering if we have hit a peak in rents just in time for an election that has the potential to mess up the rental market with Measure R for rotten, along comes this bit of news courtesy of the Wall Street Journal

Apartment rents declined in some of the country's priciest cities during the third quarter, a dramatic reversal that could signal the end of a six-year boom for the U.S. rental market....“San Francisco and New York are leading the way in the downturn,” said Ken Rosen,chairman of the Fisher Center of Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of California at Berkeley. “People are going to be surprised that this is happening but they shouldn’t be. It’s been too far, too fast.”

Almost 6,700 additional apartments are expected to be built in San Jose and nearly 6,500 more in San Francisco by the end of 2018, according to Axiometrics.  At the same time, job growth is losing steam in some major cities. San Francisco added 26,000 new jobs in August 2016, about half the 47,000 jobs it added in the year-earlier period, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by Mr. Rosen.

And naturally there isn't one drop of progress on finding any new water sources or storage facilities in the works for those 13,200 apartments or any of the others being build in between SF and SJ.  Good plan.  In the meantime, if a tenant leaves of their own volition under Measure R do they still retain the right of return?  Do they have to pay the prior rate if it's higher.  I bet not.

Comments

[Ian]

Of course the right of the return is just that - the "right". If the measure were really fair, the right of the tenant to return in an up market would be matched by the "obligation" to return in a down market - if a tenant had ever left voluntarily in a down market, they wouldn't be able to move to a cheaper unit. If they wanted to rent in Burlingame the landlord would have the right compel them to return to the same unit at the old, above-current-market price.

Of course, this would be ridiculous, but is it really any more ridiculous than giving the tenant the right to show up 20 years later and demand to be permitted to rent a unit at decades-old pricing?

[Joe]

Thank you, Ian. You have made a nice exposition of the absurd part of the ordinance I was thinking about.

[Mike]

One can lay part of this on the attorney who drafted the Measurers, Daniel Saver. As a highly educated phi beta kappa Harvard trained liberal, he knows exactly what he is doing and it's absurd to believe he did it for all the so called victims of rent increases....looks like he has plans for himself to move up the progressive ranks and what better way to do it than claim success of his accomplishment. Kill these measures in their tracks VOTE NO and save the peninsula from turning into Berkeley.

[[email protected]]

Considering your Liberal use of the word Kill, I can not consider your interpretation of any political viable issue.
I wonder if there is a Homeland Security/FBI "office" reviewing Blogs located near the SFO?

[Mike]

Hollyroller-- expand your vocabulary and refer to 2b. Stop it with the FBI nonsense!

Full Definition of kill
transitive verb
1
a : to deprive of life : cause the death of
b (1) : to slaughter (as a hog) for food (2) : to convert a food animal into (a kind of meat) by slaughtering
2
a : to put an end to
b : defeat, veto
c : to mark for omission; also : delete
d : annihilate, destroy
3
a : to destroy the vital or essential quality of
b : to cause to stop
c : to check the flow of current through
4
: to make a markedly favorable impression on
5
: to get through uneventfully ; also : to get through (the time of a penalty) without being scored on

[Anne Pembroke]

I'm finding it rather amusing (and utterly absurd!) that neighbors in Burlingame Gardens are horrified at Burlingame Water rates being raised 25% over the next 3 years, but have no problem with renters in their community having to pay an additional 10% EACH year just to stay in their rented homes.

[Charlene]

Why? There is a lot more to cost of living than water. You do demonstrate increasing landlord costs so thanks for that.

[Anne Pembroke]

The 10-12-16 letter to the Journal from Valerie & Brian Alder mentions the need for landlords to keep up with inflation.... I agree, but the inflation rate from 2006-2016 is 23.3% and my rent has increased 50% during that same period with no property improvements. The only "increasing landlord costs" have been 3 of his children in college.

[Charlene]

You are confusing the national rate with the Bay Area rate of inflation. If your rent only increased by 50% over 10 years you should try to sign the longest term lease you can.

[professorawesome]

"if a tenant leaves of their own volition under Measure R do they still retain the right of return?"

Just to clarify, the right of return does NOT apply to tenants leaving of their own volition. It ONLY applies to necessary repairs, owner move-in, demolition, or taking the unit off the market entirely.

Quoting directly from Measure R:
"All Tenants whose tenancy is terminated based upon a basis enumerated in Subsections (a)(6)-(9) herein shall have the first right of return to the Rental Unit if that Rental Unit is returned to the market by the Landlord or successor Landlord. Rent for the Rental Unit shall be the Rent lawfully paid by the Tenant at the time the Landlord gave notice of termination based upon Subsections (a)(6)-(9) herein."

[Charlene]

Who exactly is keeping track of all of this for 100s or 1000s of units in perpetuity? Will the Commission have its own computer system and staff? Who is designing the database? Where will it reside? How will it be verified?

What a damn joke.

[[email protected]]

Thank you Mike for putting in time to help me.

[hillsider]

Charlene- your an$wer is ma$$ive dollar$ $pent fooli$shly by fool$

[[email protected]]

Whenever I think of the term Hillsider, it reminds me of that Cemetery at Hwy 92 and Hwy 35.
Beautiful Place.
What are you plans regarding your fortune when you become a "Real Hillsider?"
I will share mine when you share your's.

[Joe]

Here's another letter to the editor of the Daily Journal for a person who woke up yesterday, read an article from a socialist professor at Occidental College written 20 years ago and decided they knew something about the last 20+ years of Burlingame politics. It's sad.
------------------

Editor,

As a renter in Burlingame and supporter of Measure R, I am writing about the awareness I’ve developed of the devastating decades-long influence of special big-money interests on our local and state housing policy.

Those interests are the San Mateo County Association of Realtors, California Apartment Association, California Realtors Association, and National Association of Realtors.

I just completed reading a comprehensive history of rental politics and policy in California in a 1997 report titled “Rent Deregulation in California and Massachusetts: Politics, Policy, and Impacts,” by Professor Peter Dreier of the International and Public Affairs Center at Occidental College. The report details the overwhelming influence these special interest groups have had in shaping state and local policy, consistently defeating grassroots housing policy movements.

The California Apartment Association, SAMCAR, California Realtors, and National Realtors Associations have a huge interest in defeating both Measures Q and R in San Mateo and Burlingame. They are decades-old, well-oiled machines, ready to spring into action anytime a small group of people try and reform housing policy to strengthen their communities.

It is clearer to me today than ever before that our state is being run by real estate interests and not people. There were desperate times in the past for renters, but they pale in comparison to today’s reality. We must, as people, join each other in saying no to those who have no human interest in our communities, and vote yes on Q and yes on R on Nov. 8.

Roni Gillenson

Burlingame

[Mike]

Well Joe, Roni Gillenson is one of the main instigators behind BARP. What we need more of during the next 3 weeks is feet on the ground spreading the word that Measure R is the worse thing to roll into Burlingame in decades. VOTE NO!!

[local motion]

It don't sound she knows much at all about Burlingame politics either. School parents and BCE I get. Sports parents and AYSO, yes. Some contractors and the unions who support R and a few others sure. But realtors and landlords. Not so much.

[BHS-Censorship]

My child wanted to get some info the local Rent Control issues from the Voice today at school. When he attempted to log on to the Burlingame Voice at BHS it was blocked! The kids tell me that BHS would have to specifically place the voice on a blocked list.

Why is BHS blocking this site? Students can be on Facebook or Twitter all day long while at school but they can't go this blog? What is the fear?

What is with the censorship?

[Joe]

Wow. I will have to investigate THAT. Back when the Voice was a printed edition (on paper!) BHS carried it in the library. This sounds like a good chance to meet the new principal.

[Mike]

Just Say No To Rent Control...

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1203532596359767&id=1158249110888116

[BHS Student]

As a student at BHS, I completely understand why Burlingame High School blocked the site. If students wished to learn more about Measure R, the Burlingame Voice is not the place to go. As an unqualified news source with a grossly biased outlook, a student would only find mischaracterizations of and from both sides of the argument. I encourage your student to seek information from reputable sources, including the Sample Ballot or recent articles published by both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal (neither blocked by BHS), which will provide the text itself as well as nonpartisan analysis from the City Attorney. Though the Burlingame Voice provides a forum for opinion, it in no way should be the primary source for researching ballot measures.

*By deleting this post, Joe, you are affirming my point of this forum's lack of open-mindedness towards differing opinions, a quality that is crucial in researching ballot measures.

[Joe]

I cannot recall the last post that we deleted but it was probably about an individual and most certainly not due to an idea expressed. You are a fool to even imply as much, but I forgive you if you are really a student. You have much to learn, grasshopper.

And if you think either the Times or the Journal do not have their own biases, I look forward to you failing Journalism 101 in college.

[Charlene]

Snowflakes in Burlingame! Call Public Works. Get the plows from Caltrans.

[BHS-Censorship]

Its politics. How is it that researching opinions of people who live in the community where the issue is a ballot item is not essential? As a BHS student, I hope the teachers are challenging you to understand the different positions of individuals involved in politics, not just the "milk toast" analysis of the WSJ or "non partisan" analysis. He is a big question... do your teachers offer you both sides of the issue and I don't just mean Rent Control. Is there another position besides the on on the Left? Do us all a favor an go to class with a conservative question and a conservative position on an issue and see the response of your teacher. Ask them to give equal footing to a position from the right. The issue here was that the Voice was censored and that is wrong. As a "student" you attempted to post a response that would validate the censorship but instead you only supported the fact that views from the "locals" who actually live here and will have to live with the results of the elections.... they don't matter. As a student, you should demand access to all information that is available for consumption. You defended censorship because it weakened your own bias. As a student... that position will fail you.

[Peter Garrison]

I think free speech is our most important right. Free speech is free speech whether you like it or not. All sides need to be heard.