California housing crisis podcast: Why it’s so hard to pass tenant legislation at the Capitol
Reporting from Sacramento — Last November, nearly six in 10 California voters rejected an initiative that would have expanded rent control across the state.
But state lawmakers have come back this year with a collection of bills that would better protect tenants from evictions and large surges in rents. Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he’d sign a package of rent stabilization bills — if they reach his desk.
Getting the measures through the Legislature will be easier said than done, given their history of failing at the ballot box and at the Capitol. On this episode of “Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis Podcast,” we consider why tenant legislation faces a chilly reception in the Legislature and the fate of this year’s tenant bills prior to a key week of hearings.
Our guests are Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Alameda), an author of one of the tenant bills, and Michelle Pariset of Public Advocates, a nonprofit tenant advocacy organization.
“Gimme Shelter,” a biweekly podcast that looks at why it’s so expensive to live in California and what the state can do about it, features Liam Dillon, who covers housing affordability issues for the Los Angeles Times’ Sacramento bureau, and Matt Levin, data and housing reporter for CALmatters.
You can subscribe to “Gimme Shelter” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Play and Overcast.
After ballot failure, there’s a new bid to control what California landlords can charge tenants »
Twitter: @dillonliam
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