SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) Renters and landlords waited patiently to hear the last Santa Barbara City Council agenda item on Tuesday.
At issue is the review of a draft ordinance amending code relating to a residential rent stabilization plan.
The framework calls for annual rent increases of three-percent or lower.
A rental registry would track tenancy and rent increases for enforcement purposes.
It could affect about 13-thousand units in the city built before 1995 with some exemptions.
And it comes at a cost.
The program would cost the city about $2-million dollars at a time when the city is trying not to use reserves to balance the next budget.
Critics call it rent control.
Betty Jeppesen who serves as President of the Santa Barbara Rental Property Association is part of a lawsuit over the issue.
She opposes using 60 percent of the Consumer Price Index capped at 3 percent as part of the plan is give property owners a reasonable rate of return on their investment.
"Capping rent increases at 60 percent of CPI is Constitutionally confiscatory taking because it is a deprivation of property rights without just compensation and doesn't allow the landlords to get a fair rate of return.," said Jeppesen.
Jeppesen said the state already has protections.
"60 percent of the cost of living can never be a fair rate of return," said Jeppesen.
But supporters of stabilization say the goal is capping rent increases in a way that is pinned to reality. They like the idea of having a registry and a rent board to consider issues that arise.
CAUSE Policy Advocate Ana Arce calls it step one toward long term solutions to the housing crisis.
"I want a strong rent stabilization ordinance that protects tenants from displacement from being forced out of our city, not having to commute back and forth," said Arce.
"I am somebody who has been displaced," said Gina Rodart Quiroz,"I am looking for real protections, real enforcement and real consequences."
She said she once lived in her rents have skyrocketed. She said one increase can put her out on the streets.
The presentation is just getting underway and public comments will follow.
The public comment period will last for 30 days.
Your News Channel will have more on the issue tonight on the news.
Santa Barbara City Council to review draft amending rent stabilization proposal News Channel 3-12.
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