Rising Rents, Not Enough Data: How a Lack of Transparency Threatens to Undermine California’s Rent Cap
Published On September 28, 2022
Authors:
Alexander Casey
Housing Affordability Data Lab Director, Terner Housing Innovation Labs
Samantha Gordon
Chief Programs Officer, TechEquity Collaborative
Terner Center Project Team: Carolina Reid, Faculty Research Advisor | Ben Metcalf , Managing Director | David Garcia, Policy Director | Quinn Underriner, Data Scientist | Muhammad Alameldin, Policy Associate
TechEquity Collaborative Project Team: Catherine Bracy, CEO & Co-Founder | Hannah Holloway, Director of Policy and Research | Matthew Brooks, Director of Civic Tech
This collaborative brief from the Terner Center and TechEquity explores how rising market pressure, combined with inflation, are pushing a significant share of rental listings to see price increases at levels beyond the limits set by California’s rent cap, were it to apply to all relisted units. We find that 60 percent of repeat rental listings posted in the spring of 2022 had an annual price increase above the corresponding rent cap.
While the rent cap only applies for tenants renewing leases in certain categories of rental properties, the analysis raises questions about the limitations of current enforcement and education around the rent cap and makes recommendations to better ensure the law is working as intended to stabilize renters.
Read a statement from our Managing Director Ben Metcalf responding to concerns that we have received about the intention and methods behind this recent brief.
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