5/21/24 Board of Supervisors renter protections postscript

 

Fred Allebach

5/22/24

 

Postscript public comment on the need for more renter protections

 

In yesterday’s Board of Supervisors renter protections hearing an impossible situation for SoCo renters became apparent. On one hand rents are cost burdening many at way above 30% of their annual income yet landlords seem to be saying that for their business model to succeed, they need to reem tenants with unsupportable rents or they will go broke. And to boot, landlords claim that without their ability to max rents to unsupportable levels, the “law of supply and demand” will even further negatively impact renters.

 

Like most issues we see universes of alternative facts colliding. And since interest groups make such wildly divergent claims, there is a constant need for new data and studies.

 

However, there have been so many studies on how bad things are for renters and the lower-income working class, Latino immigrants in particular, that the call is in: there is a renter emergency now in SoCo. We don’t need any more studies, we need definitive action to help cost-burdened renters, now.

 

My hope is that the BOS will bring the same level of fairness awareness to renters that they bring to property owners in SoCo GSA equalization and sewage fees. Property owners already get a serious mortgage tax deduction and build home equity in a high dollar area, renters get zero even as the County depends on their labor.

 

In my 67 years the market has proven there is one thing it’s really good at ripping us all off. What economic law makes rip off a core precept?  

 

IMO, landlords and business interests can’t be counted on the be charitable and ethical actors because their mission, as per Milton Friedman, is to make a profit. And as Friedman said as well, it is government’s job, your job, to act as a backstop to market excesses. Unfettered rent-seeking and extreme high rents are market excesses. Us renters need your help, to protect our stake in the community.  

 

If we want a workforce in SoCo that won’t keep costing millions to support in other ways, (homeless, emergency room, education, health, upstream investment etc.) they need aggressive rental protections now. The best way to secure a sustainable future for SoCo and its workforce is to have a secure roof over people’s heads at 30% of their annual income. That’s your top sustainability indicator. To quote Captain Picard, let’s make it so.