Editor,
Numerous letters have been published advocating adoption of rent control or rent stabilization laws without consideration of the consequences. Alleging “outrageous rent increases” fails to recognize the co-existing outrageous property price increases in our area.
Having lived under rent control and rent stabilization laws in New York City, I am clear about the consequences. 1). Rent-controlled apartments were rarely vacated with move-in children “inheriting;” 2). Owners ignored rent stabilization regulations until caught by authorities and forced to make refunds; 3). Even upscale apartment buildings were minimally maintained; 4). A conversion wave of large rental buildings to cooperatives ensued in the 1980s with every effort to force tenant purchases or moves; 5). As part of the conversion plan our owner granted himself an up-to-40 year leaseback of all commercial space as well as for the essential Manhattan underground garage at a nominal annual rent of $25,000 for our 400-plus-unit building; and 6). The new co-op owners had to finance the neglected major maintenance requirements of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
As a result of two long and costly lawsuits brought on behalf of our cooperative corporation, we recovered damages of approximately $1.4 million from the former owner plus cancellation of the leaseback for the garage, but not the similar term leaseback for the block-long group of ground floor stores.
Driving the sale of rental units through imposing rent controls does not improve the availability of affordable housing. The lack of available land for development along with government subsidies paid by taxpayers who actually pay taxes is the real problem.
How ironic that the Daily Journal reported March 11 that although the South San Francisco affordable housing project initially wanted to reserve a group of units exclusively for city workers, it found insufficient support for such a proposal from those very city workers.
Marilyn Klein
San Mateo
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