Businesses and veterans campaign against rent control

California’s war of words continues over Proposition 10 and the possibility of expanding rent control in the state, with business interests and veterans of actual wars coming out against the measure.

Proposition 10, which will be up for a vote on California’s November ballot, would eliminate the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act and grant California cities broad new authority to place rent control restrictions on private property. However, Proposition 10’s ultimate effect on housing would vary from city to city.

On Wednesday, the Bay Area Council [BAC], a policy lobbying group consisting of 300-plus Bay Area businesses like Wells Fargo, Facebook, Genentech, and the Golden State Warriors to name a few, voted to oppose Proposition 10.

Via press release, BAC claimed that the measure would “exacerbate the region’s housing crisis [...] further distorting rental markets and making it more difficult to build new affordable housing.”

Like the California Democratic Party’s recent endorsement of the proposition, BAC’s downvote is no particular surprise. No On 10 spokesperson Steven Maviglio says Proposition 10 will affect business interests and everyday Californians equally.

“Businesses need people to work and people need houses to live in,” Maviglio told Curbed SF, predicting that “Prop 10 [would] stop construction and lead to conversion of existing units to condos.”

Earlier this week the No On 10 campaign also cited four California veterans groups—the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American GI Forum, American Legion, and AMVETS—with VFW State Commander Lamont Duncan saying via press release that the proposition “has no protections for renters, seniors, or veterans.”

The Yes On 10 campaign has not yet responded to Curbed SF’s request for comment.

In the past, groups like the California State Nurses Association, which stated “inadequate and unaffordable housing is a public health emergency,” and the California Teachers Association have endorsed the measure.

• Bay Area Council Members
• California Democrats Endorse Prop 10 [Curbed SF]
• Costa Hawkins, California’s rent control law, explained [Curbed LA]
• Nurses Support Rent Control [Affordable Housing Act]
• Teachers To Spend On Initiatives [LA School Report]