RED ALERT: Protect Housing Providers Now!

SB 567 could be taken up for a vote on the Senate Floor as early as Wednesday, May 24.

Call your Senator today and ask them to vote NO on SB 567 (Durazo) – because it will hurt small housing providers.

SB 567 violates the legislative agreement reached on AB 1482, the Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (the “rent cap” law), by dramatically expanding its provisions to impose even greater restrictions.

C.A.R OPPOSES SB 567 (Durazo), which expands AB 1482’s “just-cause” eviction provisions, making it even more difficult for housing providers to terminate tenancies when necessary. SB 567’s expansion of these “just-cause” eviction provisions will harm small housing providers by changing the rules on which they have come to rely and which were just enacted three years ago in AB 1482.

Background

AB 1482 subjected most rental properties in the state to statewide rent caps and “just-cause” eviction provisions for terminating tenancies. AB 1482 was the result of extended negotiations between the Governor, the Legislature, and stakeholders to come up with a statewide measure that would restrict tenant rent increases and restrict a housing provider’s ability to terminate a tenancy, but that would not drive housing providers out of the business. While most housing providers oppose these restrictions, they have learned how to work with them when planning for the operation of their businesses.

SB 567 undoes the legislative agreement reached on AB 1482 by, among other things, making it more difficult for small housing providers to move elderly relatives, or their adult children and grandchildren or other family members, into a unit on their property. Also, the bill makes it more difficult for small housing providers to exit the rental housing business, even if they are suffering financial hardship and need to get out.

C.A.R. is OPPOSING AB 567 because:
Current law is already among the strongest in the nation. Current state law already provides some of the most stringent renter protections in the nation. Specifically, AB 1482 already establishes a statewide rent cap and provides “just-cause” eviction protections for renters.

Small housing providers have come to rely on this balanced approach. SB 567 upends the agreement reached by the Legislature on AB 1482 and changes the rules applied to small housing providers just three years after they were enacted, thereby pulling the rug out from underneath small housing providers.

It disproportionately harms small housing providers and especially small housing providers of color. Costs associated with the care of elderly parents and family members disproportionately burden individuals and families of color and those without generational wealth. To alleviate some of these cost pressures, small housing providers who own a small property will move in an elderly parent or family member to provide both housing and care. SB 567 makes it more difficult for these housing providers to move in and care for an elderly family member.

It dramatically changes the rules midstream. In 2020, millions of small rental properties became subject to the rent cap and “just-case” eviction provisions established by AB 1482. Then the pandemic hit just three months after the bill took effect, forcing small housing providers to comply with a complicated new law while also navigating eviction moratoriums and trying to keep food on the table for their families. SB 567 will subject these properties to more radical restrictions – just as small housing providers were starting to recover and stay afloat financially.

Please call your Senator today and ask them to vote NO on SB 567 (Durazo) – a bill that violates the legislative agreement reached on AB 1482, the Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (the “rent cap” law), by dramatically expanding its provisions to impose even greater restrictions on small housing providers.