California rent control advocates could score one of their biggest wins ever this November 5 if they pass Prop 33, which would legalize rent control across the state, and effectively repeal the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Act.

There is a humongous, massively significant rent control measure on your November 5 California ballot called Prop 33 that could extend rent control protections to hundreds of thousands, if not millions more housing units across California.  

SFist is not going to change your mind on the merits of rent control. You've probably already made up your mind. You either think rent control is an important key to keeping housing affordable, or a complete scourge that inhibits new housing production.

But we should inform you what Prop 33 would do if passed, and why it's so important you vote your conscience (or the interests of your wallet) on it.

Prop 33 would allow local jurisdictions to limit how much a landlord can increase a tenant’s rent every year. Or rather, it would remove any local restrictions on rent control, effectively repealing the state’s Costa–Hawkins Rental Housing Act of 1995. That Costa-Hawkins Act carved out exceptions that prohibited cities from enacting rent control for single-family homes, condos, and any apartments built after 1995. (And in San Francisco, it's any apartments built after 1979).

If it passed, Prop 33 would not mandate rent control across California. It would just give city governments the option of implementing whatever forms of rent control they wish.

But this would absolutely change the rental landscape of San Francisco. The Examiner reported in July that more than 100,000 SF housing units are currently exempt from rent control, according to an analysis of city data from Supervisor Dean Preston’s office. Moreover, Supervisor Aaron Peskin is already pushing a measure to extend rent control to all San Francisco rental units, though that could only take effect if this Prop 33 measure passes.

California voters have already rejected repealing Costa-Hawkins twice in recent years, in 2018 and 2020. And Governor Gavin Newsom signed a sort-of rent control bill in 2019 that capped annual rent increases at 5% plus adjustments for inflation.

The anti-Prop 33 campaign has raised more than $105 million, according to a CalMatters analysis, with leading donors including the California Small Business Association, landlord lobbies, and the California Republican Party. The campaign for Prop 33 has raised nearly $42 million to support the measure, largely from LA’s ever-controversial AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the California Democratic Party, and a host of nurses’ groups, unions, and tenant organizations.

But despite the opponents’ sizable financial advantage, Prop 33 is currently somewhat ahead in the polls. According to a new USC/CSU-Long Beach poll published Monday in Politico, 37% support Prop 33, 33% oppose it, and just under 33% are still undecided.

So wait, maybe some people haven’t made up their mind on how they feel about rent control? If you’re one of those people, you can check out your voter guide’s arguments for and against Prop 33 before you make your decision.

Note: An earlier version of this post identified California YIMBY as a donor to the No on 33 campaign. California YIMBY opposes Prop 33, but is not a donor to the No on 33 campaign,

Related: Concord Is On Track to Get Rent Control, More Bay Area Cities May Follow [SFist]

Image: @housingrightsSF via Twitter