California has a housing shortage, and it has caused rents and home prices to soar.

What’s the answer? Increasing the housing supply is the most effective way to make prices affordable for the greatest number of people.

Unfortunately, while we await the legislative policies that will produce more housing, we see the inevitable results of the state’s often misguided attempts to end this crisis every day. Proposition 33 on the Nov. 5 ballot would only add to the damage.

People who have lost their roof over their heads end up homeless. Seniors reluctantly skip meals to keep their home or apartment. Large families squeeze into small apartments or rental homes because they can’t afford the extra square footage.

Countless families are giving up on the American Dream of owning their own place. Or simply moving out of California altogether.

Related Story: Where Do Quintero and Chavez Stand on Rent Control?

Prop. 33 Will Discourage New Housing

If Prop. 33 passes, local governments will be empowered to impose rent control as they see fit, and there will be nothing the state can do about it. The measure proposes to repeal a longstanding California law limiting local governments such as the city of Fresno from enacting rent control beyond what the state allows.

Meaning: Local governments can virtually halt the building of new apartments by imposing rent control measures. This will result in developers unwilling to invest their time and money in projects that would risk a negative cash output.

Some states and cities have already figured this out. For example, the mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota, now wants to modify that city’s rent control ordinance to exempt units built after 2004 because developers struggle to obtain financing to build new units.

As the liberal San Francisco Chronicle noted in its editorial opposing Prop. 33, “Rents are currently plummeting in Austin, Texas, despite intense demand from people moving there because of the city’s vigorous development of new housing.  … Housing supply was also at the core of Houston’s successful effort to move 25,000 homeless people indoors.”

The truth is, California already has rent control. A 2019 state law limits annual rent hikes for most occupied units that are more than 15 years old to 5% plus inflation, or a 10% maximum. That same law also expanded tenant protections against evictions.

More housing — not less housing and rent control — unquestionably is what California and many other states need to end the housing crisis.

Related Story: A Rent Control Proposition Is Back on the Ballot. Is Third Time the Charm?

Don’t Be Fooled by Devious Ads

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris recognizes this fact, calling for 3 million more homes to be built — resulting in lower rents and mortgages for many Americans. Don’t be fooled by the devious advertising tactics employed by Prop. 33 supporters who are using images of Harris to falsely imply that she supports the measure. She does not.

California voters have rejected two rent control ballot proposals in recent years. This latest one is highly flawed and should be voted down, too.

The last thing California needs is to make our housing crisis worse.

— Written by Bill McEwen