California continues to constrain the rental housing market — to its detriment.

This op-ed originally appeared in The Redlands Daily Facts on February 8th, 2024.

California lawmakers seem to be caught in a cycle of repeating past mistakes when it comes to interfering in the rental housing market. Despite good intentions to stabilize housing costs and protect tenants from displacement, a new set of “renters’ rights” laws taking effect this year is yet another meddlesome burden on housing providers.

The latest example is Senate Bill 567, which severely limits when owners can require tenants to vacate the property. Before this bill, housing providers could terminate tenancy once a lease ends when they wanted to convert the unit for another use. Perhaps they want to move a family member into the home and take it off the rental market for a time. It is their property, after all.

Now, California’s leaders have made it even more challenging for housing providers to use their property as they choose. If a landlord pursues a “no fault just cause eviction” to convert the property for personal occupancy, SB 567 now requires a landlord or family member to reside in the unit for at least a one-year before they sell it or list it again on the rental market. It would also require them to move in within a narrow time period — hardly enough time to improve or repair any property, given the layers of permitting and bureaucracy that local governments impose. This restriction certainly makes it harder for landlords to reclaim their property for personal use.

Read the full op-ed in The Redlands Daily Facts.