Report: California Renter Protections Falling Short

An analysis from the University of California, Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation warns that the state’s Tenant Protection Act (AB 1482) is not living up to its promise due to a lack of transparency and enforcement.

Passed in 2019, AB 1482 enacted a rent cap, yet the Terner Center’s research finds that “60 percent of repeat rental listings posted in the spring of 2022 had an annual price increase that would be in excess of the state’s annual rent cap were the cap to apply to units relisted for new tenants.”

While the data did not allow for differentiation between households eligible for rent caps and those ineligible, the authors note that “this analysis reveals market conditions that are hospitable to large rent increases, demonstrating the critical need for education, enforcement, and real-time, accessible data to ensure the law is working as intended to protect renters.”