California’s LGBTQ+ tenants need the “Justice for Renters” act

OPINION: America has a housing affordability crisis, and the situation couldn’t be worse in California. Millions of people are affected by the lack of affordable housing in our state, and members of the LGBTQ+ community are impacted disproportionately.

Studies have long indicated that the LGBTQ+ community needs rent control. Because LGBTQ+ people are more likely to rent than own a home, they constantly are dealing with the predatory tactics of the real estate industry. Rent control, therefore, protects those tenants, stabilizing skyrocketing rents and preventing people from falling into homelessness.

A report from UCLA’s Williams Institute recently found a number of alarming statistics, which show that members of the LGBTQ+ community need strong tenant protections, including updated rent control policies. First, the Williams Institute noted “extensive research has demonstrated that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people face a number of barriers to stable housing, including affordability in places where they live, higher rates of poverty, and lower rates of homeownership.”

In California, where the housing affordability crisis only has worsened over the years, LGBTQ+ tenants are struggling to maintain stable, affordable housing. Not only do these tenants fear discrimination when renting a home, but they also face unique obstacles in the broader housing market: The LGBTQ+ homeownership rate is below 50 percent, compared to the national average rate of 66 percent overall. In a state with the lowest homeownership rate in the country already, LGBTQ+ Californians are still less likely to own a home and more likely to rent one than their heterosexual peers.

 

In California, where the housing affordability crisis only has worsened over the years, LGBTQ+ tenants are struggling to maintain stable, affordable housing.

The COVID-19 pandemic also showed that sudden emergencies easily could upend the lives of LGBTQ+ renters. During the pandemic, the Williams Institute revealed nearly half of LGBTQ+ Americans fell behind on their rent and feared eviction within two months. In addition, LGBTQ+ people of color were more likely to be renters and to be behind on their rent compared to other groups. In other words, many LGBTQ+ renters found themselves facing the serious prospect of homelessness.

Fortunately, there are solutions to these problems. Housing Is A Human Right, for instance, advocates for the “3 Ps”: Protect tenants through rent control and other protections; preserve existing affordable housing, not demolish it to make way for luxury housing; and produce more affordable housing.

The most viable solution in the short term is the “Justice for Renters Act,” a 2024 ballot measure put forth by Housing Is A Human Right and its parent organization, AIDS Healthcare Foundation. The ballot measure repeals statewide rent control restrictions and allows localities to pass updated rent regulations.

If passed, the Justice for Renters Act effectively would end California’s Costa-Hawkins Rental Act, a law that does not allow rent control to be applied for residential rental properties built after February 1995. The ballot measure essentially allows the state’s cities and counties to enact new or expand upon current rent control ordinances.

Originally pushed by the real estate industry, Costa-Hawkins simply isn’t working for California, not when millions of state residents are struggling to afford their monthly rent payments. The Justice for Renters Act would empower countless localities quickly to address this housing affordability crisis, giving rent regulations a long-overdue refresh.

The empirical evidence is clear: Rent control works. Experts at USC, UCLA, and UC Berkeley have concluded that rent control quickly stabilizes the housing affordability crisis and prevents people from falling into homelessness.

Big Real Estate, however, will spend tens of millions of dollars to fund a massive disinformation campaign to kill the initiative, and rent control advocates will need the LGBTQ+ community’s support. As part of a broad coalition of labor unions, social justice groups, housing justice organizations, and civic leaders such as icon Dolores Huerta, the LGBTQ+ community can back the Justice for Renters Act in 2024.

It’s time to rein in predatory landlords and keep people safe, healthy, and housed. Housing is a human right for all Californians, especially LGBTQ+ tenants.

Patrick Range McDonald is the award-winning advocacy journalist for Housing Is A Human Right, the housing advocacy division of AIDS Healthcare Foundation.