Guest Opinion | Ryan Bell: Measure H One Year On

One year ago, Measure H officially became part of the City of Pasadena’s Charter—the constitution of our city. Thanks to Pasadena’s voters, Measure H is now Article XVIII. For years, tenants, homeowners, and landlords in Pasadena have been concerned about rapidly rising rents, increasing numbers of evictions, and a growing homeless population, and have been working toward policy changes to provide stable housing opportunities for all. All that work culminated in an historic election victory last November.

When I was evicted from my apartment for no reason in 2017, there were no protections to speak of. My landlord was frank about the situation. He wanted to do a few upgrades and double the rent. And that’s what he did. Luckily, I was able to find refuge in a friend’s spare room for a few months while I figured out how to secure stable housing again. Not everyone has that friend with a spare room. Many end up homeless.

Earlier this week the US Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that the number of homeless individuals in our country has reached an all-time high of 582,462 human beings. This number includes the 75,518 individuals who are homeless in LA County (an increase of 9% over last year) and the 556 who are homeless in Pasadena (an increase of 8.6% over last year). This year, a report published by the University of California San Francisco emphasized what we’ve known for a long time: homelessness is driven by rising rates of poverty made worse by skyrocketing rents.

Today, I am proud to say that tenants in Pasadena are being protected from no-fault evictions like the one I and thousands of others have experienced. They are also being protected from arbitrary rent increases that exceed the rate of inflation.

In the seven months since the Rental Housing Board was appointed by the City Council, we have established procedures for no-fault evictions to ensure that the protections of Measure H are available to tenants. We’ve also set a relocation assistance schedule that will ease the impact of displacement for tenants subject to a no-fault eviction.

Finally, the Rental Housing Board has worked with City Council to establish the new Rent Stabilization Department and City Manager Miguel Marquez just appointed an Interim Director, Phillip Leclair, who will bring experienced and capable leadership to the development of the department over the next several months.

In the new year, the Rental Housing Board will establish our Hearings Division and petition process which will allow landlords to petition for an additional increase in rent if they’re not making a fair return, a standard guaranteed in Measure H and California law. Tenants will also be able to petition for a rent reduction if their homes do not meet certain habitability standards or if they believe they’re being charged an unlawful rent. We will also staff up the other divisions of the Rent Stabilization Department, continue our outreach efforts in the community, and improve response times for those contacting the city with questions about the new laws.

The challenges of setting up a new city department to carry out the Charter Amendment have been many. Measure H was a major change to the City’s foundational governing document and all change is hard. When there has been a power imbalance for generations, any change to create more fairness will be seen by some on the powerful side as injustice. This has been true any time our society has moved to remedy injustices resulting from an imbalance of power.

That said, the majority of landlords have been willing to comply with the new laws when they learn about them. My wife’s and my landlord, for example, granted our rent rollback without objection after we shared information about Measure H. She also increased our rent within the allowable limits.

I wish I could say this is true for all landlords. It’s not. Some are still refusing to accept the rent rollback for their tenants and are still giving 6-10% rent increases, even when educated about the limitations in Measure H. We continue to see evictions that do not name a just cause, or any cause at all. Others are threatening and harassing their tenants, hoping they move on their own. Still, this does not appear to be the majority. 

I am optimistic about the coming year as we complete the foundational work of setting up the program and continue working to make Pasadena a place known for its stable, safe housing. Because stable housing brings with it so many of the other qualities we all want to see in our community: strong schools, civic engagement, low crime, positive health outcomes, and so much more.

Ryan Bell is Chair of the Pasadena Rental Housing Board