Proposition 98 battle on rent control draws grandmother into political activism

By Elizabeth Pfeffer

Blanca Muñoz, a 55-year-old housekeeper and grandmother has a new job: tenants’ rights activist.

She is one of 25 volunteers working with St. Peter’s Housing Committee to mobilize Latino voters against a controversial eminent domain initiative on the June 3 ballot. Proposition 98, she said, will do away with rent control and displace low-income renters.

“I have been working extremely hard in doing outreach in the Mission,” said Muñoz, translated by Mariana Viturro, co-director of St. Peter’s. “This affects everyone but it affects the Latino community very much.”

Like most of the committee’s members, Muñoz is an immigrant, in her case from Nicaragua, who doesn’t speak much English.

Both Prop. 98 and the alternative measure, Proposition 99, limit eminent domain, a process that lets state and local government force homeowners to sell so their property can be turned over to a private entity such as a strip mall or golf course developer. But that is essentially the extent of Prop. 99, which Muñoz will vote yes on.

Prop. 98 differs in that it will also eradicate rent control, which its supporters, largely made up of landlord organizations, call worse than eminent domain.

“You’re going to see a lot of people displaced if (Prop.) 98 is approved,” said Viturro.

Kris Vosburgh, executive director of Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the measure’s sponsor, believes people are overreacting.

“There’s nothing in there that does away with rent control, it doesn’t do away with limitations, none of that would be changed,” Vosburgh said.

However, if passed, it is clear there would be no rent control on new leases anywhere in the state. Preexisting leases would remain under rent control until the tenant moves out, but some people are concerned that renter protections are at risk as well.

These are the state and local ordinances that require landlords to return security deposits in a timely manner, give extended eviction notices to the elderly and disabled, and guard against unjust evictions.

Tommi Avicolli Mecca, director of counseling programs for the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco and a tenant organizer for the last 12 years said he expects the worst if Prop. 98 passes.

“According to our legal, just cause goes with rent control,” Avicolli Mecca said. “This could get the ball rolling for the end of tenant protection all over the state.”

Prop. 99 spokeswoman Kathy Fairbanks shares his concerns.

“They don’t want anyone to know what they’re trying to do is really a scheme by the landlords to trick voters,” Fairbanks said. “It’s a bait and switch.”

Opponents fear a provision in Prop. 98 that says owners have the right to charge whatever they wish for their land. If enacted, they say, it could lead to the overturning of various laws that protect renters.

“Someone is going to sue saying state law allows them to convert their apartment building to condos without giving a senior or disabled extra time,” Fairbanks said.

“There is a philosophy around housing in this country that is so reprehensible. Housing is a basic need like healthcare. We need universal housing just like universal healthcare,” Avicolli Mecca said.

However, Prop. 98 spokesman Marko Mlikotin argues that rent control isn’t need based and, like eminent domain, it seizes a portion of the owner’s land and turns it over to a private party.

“If the good is to provide affordable housing then this is something the federal government should do,” Mlikotin said.

Since both initiatives restrict eminent domain, the real issue at hand is whether voters feel affordable housing should fall on the backs of landlords.

The city Rent Board believes there are about 179,000 rent controlled units in San Francisco and 1.1 million statewide. It’s unclear how the vote will go, since there are 13 million other renters who don’t have rent control.

Both sides agree Prop. 98 probably won’t do well in San Francisco, but conservative parts of Southern California like Orange County and the Central Valley are expected to be more receptive to the measure.

For Muñoz, affordable rent keeps her in San Francisco.