By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher, The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint
The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint is currently featuring an article on Blackstone Investors and their acquisition and maintenance of rental properties in San Diego County. While the term “eviction” is only used in reference to the experience of one particular tenant who withheld her rent in protest leading to her eviction, the unwritten story is that in San Diego, an eviction on your public record, regardless of the outcome of the litigation, if any, is sufficient for a landlord not to rent to you. Evictions follow high rent increases. The article we published makes it clear that in San Diego, evictions carry incentives for landlords in that there are few, if any, limitations on what can be charged to a new tenant. Evictions can also mean higher security deposits when seeking to find a new place to rent. Security deposits and first and last rent deposits can make the cost of renting a new apartment as high as $5,000. Or more. Hence, we have homeless people living on the streets with jobs and income, but not enough to pay rent and the other bare essentials of living.
The solution to homelessness is not just a matter of more beds and building more housing units when we have perhaps hundreds of vacant new condo and apartment units already built and sitting empty downtown, with more under construction. The real issue is not “affordable” housing, it’s “available” housing. None of the ordinances we have on the books in San Diego address this issue. A real rent control law would make it difficult to hold a person’s notice of eviction against them even though they were not evicted. A real look at rents would place a limit on how long landlords and investors can sit on empty properties for tax write-offs and, instead, develop a policy for renting to those who could afford to rent without high-security deposits and first and last month rents that force people out of the rental market.
The 1000-bed shelter that the City of San Diego wants to place on Kettner is not a solution. It’s a band-aid on a problem that continues to grow. While we are looking at who has what on the housing market, how about looking at how many judges are landlords and how they are ruling on tenant issues.
Yes, there is a relationship between evictions and homelessness, but that’s only part of a larger issue. Do we really want a change or just more window dressing?
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