Case Studies

West Hollywood, California Incorporated in 1984, the city of West Hollywood has JCEC laws that apply to all housing in the city, not just those under the jurisdiction of rent control. While just cause controls are an important tool, they are most effective when part of a larger strategy to protect tenants' rights. The Coalition for Economic Survival (CES), a strong force in tenants' rights and advocacy in the Los Angeles region, has been working on a variety of measures to protect tenants. CES has taken the lead in ensuring that affordable housing is built, offering legal support for tenants facing eviction, and creating a rent escrow program in Los Angeles. This escrow program applies to buildings that are falling apart and where the landlord has been negligible in fixing major problems. Tenants, who live in one of these designated buildings, pay their monthly rent into a fund that the landlord can retrieve only when the property is brought in line with health and safety standards.

Berkeley, California In June 1980, Berkeley residents passed one of the most comprehensive rent stabilization laws, known as the Rent Stabilization and Eviction for Good Cause Ordinance. The ordinance regulates most residential rents in Berkeley, provides tenants with increased protection against evictions and is intended to maintain affordable housing and preserve community diversity. In 1995, the California legislature enacted the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which suspends rent control during a qualifying vacancy and reinstates it for a new tenancy. Now, under full vacancy decontrol, owners may set a market rent for most tenancies beginning on or after January 1, 1999. The rent charged a new tenant becomes the new rent ceiling. Berkeley's strong rent control law had been seriously weakened through state legislation.