California Invoice to Cap Renters’ Safety Deposits

The median lease in California has risen 35 % since 2000, whereas the median family earnings for the state’s renters has elevated 6 %, in accordance with a legislative evaluation of the invoice. “Safety deposit quantities have likewise seen a big improve over the identical interval,” the evaluation mentioned.

Haney advised me that he was impressed to introduce the laws after assembly a janitor in his district, which encompasses the jap half of San Francisco. The person was cramming right into a one-bedroom condo together with his spouse and two kids. He may afford the month-to-month lease for a two-bedroom condo, however not the 1000’s of {dollars} wanted for the safety deposit, software charges, and first and final month’s lease payable prematurely, he mentioned.

“There’s loads we have to do to cut back the price of housing for everybody,” Haney mentioned. “However that is one thing we will do proper now to deliver a whole lot of aid.”

The invoice, A.B. 12, simply handed the Meeting in Might, and the State Senate is now contemplating it. Haney advised me that greater than 10 states, together with New York, Massachusetts and Alabama, have related caps.

The invoice isn’t with out its opponents. A number of rental housing trade teams say the proposal may make it untenable for landlords to tackle new tenants and will in the end scale back the housing provide. Smaller house owners specifically might pull their models off the market as a result of they gained’t be capable of tackle the chance with out the monetary offset, the teams say.