California Apartment Association's Withdrawal Of Lawsuits Could Encourage Other Cities To Try Rent Control

The California Apartment Association's decision to suspend its lawsuits challenging rent control measures in Richmond and Mountain View could lead other Bay Area cities to move on rent control laws.

The association said it would end those legal challenges to focus on its campaigns against rent control policies surfacing in other communities and closely monitoring how the new laws are rolled out by Richmond and Mountain View. Judges in Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties had ruled against CAA's request for preliminary injunctions that would have stopped the rent control laws from going into effect until they were tried in court, causing CAA to re-evaluate its suits.

While San Mateo, Burlingame and Alameda voters failed to pass rent control measures in November, other cities are moving forward with rent control, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Pacifica's city council approved a temporary rent- and eviction-control ordinance in April, but voted against making it a permanent measure on Monday, KQED reports. Instead, the council put rent control on November's ballot.

In a related move, San Jose City Council voted in April to create an ordinance limiting tenant evictions to just cause. On Tuesday, after protests by landlords, the council debated the timeline to enforce the new law, the Mercury News reports.

In Santa Rosa, residents will vote on rent control June 6.

Rent control also is being explored in San Diego, Glendale, Pasadena, Santa Barbara and unincorporated Los Angeles County, the Chronicle reports. Now that CAA has dropped its lawsuits, some cities may look more favorably on passing rent control laws.