Fred Gortner’s Post

🏡 Los Angeles at a Crossroads: Balancing Rent Increases and Housing Affordability 🏡 Los Angeles is facing a pivotal moment in its housing policy. Recently, many L.A. renters saw rent hikes of up to 6%, a stark contrast to neighboring cities like West Hollywood and Santa Monica, where increases are capped at much lower rates. City council members, led by Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, are advocating for stricter limits, proposing a cap of 3% to align with other Southern California cities. This push comes in response to the growing financial strain on tenants, with many already allocating over half their income to rent. Landlords, however, argue that further restrictions could be crippling, especially after enduring a nearly four-year rent freeze. Rising costs in insurance, maintenance, and utilities are squeezing their margins, making it tough to sustain their business. 🔑 Key Points: L.A. allows rent-controlled increases of 3%-8%, plus 2% if landlords cover utilities. Neighboring cities have caps below 3%, providing more tenant protection. Many renters are spending unsustainable portions of their income on housing. Landlords face significant cost increases, challenging the feasibility of lower rent caps. As L.A. evaluates its rent control policies, the challenge remains: How do we protect renters from exorbitant increases while ensuring landlords can maintain their properties sustainably? This balance is crucial for fostering a stable and affordable housing market. Let's keep the dialogue open and solutions-focused. 🤝🏠 #HousingCrisis #RentControl #LACityCouncil #LandlordTenant #AffordableHousing #RealEstate

We should concentrate on the last part of the article. WE NEED TO BUILD MORE HOUSING! 75% of all units or 650,000 units in Los Angeles city are already in rent control because they were built pre 1978. Rent control wouldn't be needed if enough housing were built. Arguing about rent increase formulas wouldn't be needed. Rent control actually hurts tenants, landlords and the city. It's a major reason why rents are so high. #housing #rentcontrol #losangeles #marycummins #realestateappraiser #realestateappraisal #landlord #tenant #rent #renter https://lnkd.in/erWDerES

Here’s a story that illustrates why I’m opposed to rent caps like the one in the city of St. Paul: Rent caps deter builders. When building stops, housing becomes scarce, which would normally cause an increase in rent. But that doesn’t happen because of the rent cap… As housing becomes scarce, higher-earning individuals move to cities with more availability, leaving lower-income families left to battle it out for the few remaining units left. If inflation increases by a percentage that exceeds the rent cap, property owners can’t afford to fix and maintain the properties and units. The minimal housing that’s available loses its value due to a lack of maintenance and inability to generate income for its owners. The building is foreclosed on. Housing becomes even more scarce, and families who can’t afford to move are left without a home. Rent caps may protect renters in the short run, but they are not a long-term solution to affordable housing issues. #MinnesotaRealEstate #RentCap #TwinCitiesRealEstate

The Province of British Columbia is proposing to implement fairly significant changes for landlords and tenants, some of which include: •Restricting rent increases when a tenant adds a child under the age of 19, irrespective of the lease agreement stating otherwise when adding occupants. •Prohibiting personal occupancy evictions in purpose-built rentals with 5 or more units. •Landlords will need to use an online portal to standardize serving notices and streamline post-eviction compliance audits. •Increasing the amount of notice landlords must provide tenants for personal occupancy evictions. •Increasing the amount of time landlords must occupy a rental unit after personal occupancy evictions from 6 months to 12 months. •Increasing the amount of time tenants have to dispute a notice to end tenancy from 15 days to 30 days. While it is undoubtedly important for tenants to have rights and protection from unlawful treatment, especially in this economy, maintaining a reasonable level of incentive for landlords is important for the housing market. Those we speak with, particularly residential landlords in Ontario, are beginning to have a shift in sentiment and considering reducing or exiting their rental portfolios as a result of red tape, especially in the present interest rate environment and the absence of a rising real estate market. The Canadian real estate market is plagued with multi-layered issues and is in dire need of repair for the sake of current and future generations of renters, homeowners and real estate investors. #CanadianRealEstate #BCHousing #VanRE

Tenants living in New York City’s roughly one million rent-stabilized apartments will see their rents rise for a third year in a row after the NYC Rent Guidelines Board approved rent hikes in a heated vote on Monday. This decision will affect leases starting October 1, 2024, through September 30, 2025. The board approved a 2.75% increase for one-year leases and a 5% increase for two-year leases. Read more about the changes and their implications in Celia Young's article on Brick Underground. https://lnkd.in/ezj2RTm2 #NYCRealEstate #RentStabilized #RentGuidelines

Kingston, NY, has become a focal point in the debate over rent stabilization, showcasing the challenges and opportunities of implementing such policies outside major urban centers. In 2019, Carolina Soto moved to Kingston seeking a more affordable lifestyle, only to find a rapidly gentrifying market that real estate agents were dubbing "the new Brooklyn." By 2022, Kingston had become the housing market with the most rapidly increasing home prices in the country. This unprecedented growth led to a historic decision: Kingston became the first municipality in New York outside of NYC and its neighboring counties to opt into the Emergency Tenant Protection Act (#ETPA). Discover how this small city is navigating the complexities of rent stabilization and what it could mean for other communities facing similar challenges: https://bit.ly/4h3xVDL #KingstonNY #RentStabilization #AffordableHousing

Connecticut's Rental Market: A Step Toward Affordability? As rent growth slows in parts of Connecticut, housing advocates stress that affordability remains out of reach for many. Despite a surge in new apartment construction, the state still needs 98,000+ affordable units to meet demand. A recent article in Hearst Media CT publications highlights the following: - Hartford Area: 29% of rentals now offer landlord concessions, the most since 2021. - Stamford-Bridgeport Corridor: Slight rent decreases have been reported recently, but Fairfield County rents have soared 37%+ in three years. - Statewide Ranking: CT renters pay 34% of their income for a 2-bedroom, tying for 3rd highest in the U.S. alongside MA & CA. What’s Next? State leaders are exploring solutions like tax credits, affordable housing incentives, and innovative policies to address this crisis. In the article, David Rich of the Housing Collective explains, "This is a long game, but changing hearts and minds is key to unlocking solutions. #AffordableHousing #ConnecticutRents #HousingCrisis #RealEstate #CTHousing

Connecticut's Rental Market: A Step Toward Affordability? As rent growth slows in parts of Connecticut, housing advocates stress that affordability remains out of reach for many. Despite a surge in new apartment construction, the state still needs 98,000+ affordable units to meet demand. A recent article in Hearst Media CT publications highlights the following: - Hartford Area: 29% of rentals now offer landlord concessions, the most since 2021. - Stamford-Bridgeport Corridor: Slight rent decreases have been reported recently, but Fairfield County rents have soared 37%+ in three years. - Statewide Ranking: CT renters pay 34% of their income for a 2-bedroom, tying for 3rd highest in the U.S. alongside MA & CA. What’s Next? State leaders are exploring solutions like tax credits, affordable housing incentives, and innovative policies to address this crisis. In the article, David Rich of the Housing Collective explains, "This is a long game, but changing hearts and minds is key to unlocking solutions. #AffordableHousing #ConnecticutRents #HousingCrisis #RealEstate #CTHousing

Probably no other newspaper in America would tackle the issue of New York City Housing regulations in the level of detail as the WSJ. This is a rather arcane subject probably of interest only to real estate developers. But, like many regulations developed by government, the impact of the regulations being drawn up in Albany can have massive implications to the citizens of New York. The article points out that overall rental vacancies in New York are at an all time low of 1.41%. As a result rents are extremely expensive. Governor Hochul and the Democrat run legislature are being pushed to do something to permit more rental housing units to be built. But, as the WSJ points out, they are also driven by progressive ideology that is inherently hostile to landlords and developers. This ideology favors things like strict rent control that limits how much landlords can raise rents, limits landlords from evicting non-paying tenants, and discourages landlords from making renovations by not allowing them to pass on the costs to new tenants. As the article points out, despite the clear need for new rental housing, the New York Legislature let a property tax break on new development expire in 2022 because they thought it was "too generous." As a result, new construction was cut in half in 2023. That is because developers are not ideological. They build new units to make money. If they can't make money they don't build them. The WSJ article also points out that 20,000 rent-regulated units have become vacant since 2019 but aren't on the market because the needed renovations would cost more than the landlords could recover. Once again, an ideologically driven obstacle to the very goal the Governor and the legislature are trying to reach. So, in the face of the competing desire to provide New Yorkers with more affordable rental housing while preventing landlords and developers from making a reasonable profit, the Governor and legislature went to work on what the WSJ calls "a complex deal to encourage new construction." Basically, the complex part of it is the desire to give with one hand and take with the other. As a result, Jay Martin, head of a landlord group, looking at the proposed regulations said, "It's woefully inadequate to address the long-term insolvency issues we have here." But, do not assume that such an assessment from a landlord group would cut any ice with the Democrats running things in Albany. They no doubt would be much more interested in what tenant organizations and squatters would have to say about it. And therein lies the defect of Democrat run cities. They run them for the non-producers and expect those who have to risk capitol to do so without any guarantees of making money. This leads to insane laws being considered like the one in San Francisco that would make it illegal for grocery stores to close without six months’ notice."

Connecticut's Rental Market: A Step Toward Affordability? As rent growth slows in parts of Connecticut, housing advocates stress that affordability remains out of reach for many. Despite a surge in new apartment construction, the state still needs 98,000+ affordable units to meet demand. A recent article in Hearst Media CT publications highlights the following: - Hartford Area: 29% of rentals now offer landlord concessions, the most since 2021. - Stamford-Bridgeport Corridor: Slight rent decreases have been reported recently, but Fairfield County rents have soared 37%+ in three years. - Statewide Ranking: CT renters pay 34% of their income for a 2-bedroom, tying for 3rd highest in the U.S. alongside MA & CA. What’s Next? State leaders are exploring solutions like tax credits, affordable housing incentives, and innovative policies to address this crisis. In the article, David Rich of the Housing Collective explains, "This is a long game, but changing hearts and minds is key to unlocking solutions. #AffordableHousing #ConnecticutRents #HousingCrisis #RealEstate #CTHousing