Many of California’s 17 million renters are already in a world of pain, paying budget-crushing rents and facing potential double-digit hikes each year. Unless a new bill in the state Assembly is passed, that pain will compound significantly in the near future.
Thanks to 2019’s Tenant Protection Act, California has a 10% annual cap on increases for most renters — still brutally difficult for the state’s lower-income residents, but at least a limit. That law, though, is set to automatically come off the books in 2030. The newly proposed Affordable Rent Act (AB 1157) would cut that maximum hike to 5%, and would remove an exemption for single-family homes that was written into the previous legislation. Most critically, the new bill’s provisions, written by Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose), wouldn’t expire.
