The multifamily housing-related ballot measures that passed, and failed, on election day

By Excerpts from SmartCitiesDive on November 10, 2024

Voters decided on November 5, 2024, not only the next president but the fate of over a dozen initiatives modifying state and local housing laws. Note that all results are unofficial until they are certified.

Chief among them was California’s Proposition 33, which would have removed California’s limits on rent control in local jurisdictions but did not pass by a margin of over 1 million votes, according to the state government. Out of all the housing-related ballot measures, Prop 33 had gained the most media attention and had the most wide-ranging potential to affect the multifamily industry.

Proposition 33

With 52% of the estimated total vote reported as of the morning of Nov. 6, Proposition 33 received over 5,680,000 votes no and over 3,540,000 votes yes, or 61.6% to 38.4%.

If approved, Prop 33 would have repealed the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, removing California’s limits on rent control in local jurisdictions.

Under Costa-Hawkins, rent control cannot apply to single-family housing or any housing built on or after Feb. 1, 1995, according to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, a nonpartisan fiscal and policy advisor for the state legislature. Local laws also cannot dictate what landlords can charge renters when they first move in — they can only limit rent increases for existing renters.

In October, San Francisco passed a new rent control law designed to trigger if Prop 33 passes, according to the San Francisco Standard. Any localities with rent control in place when Costa-Hawkins passed in 1995 could not expand it to housing built after their existing limit — 1979, in San Francisco’s case. The new law would have extended the city’s cutoff year to 1994, amended from November 2024 in the original proposal.

Affordable housing

NOT PASSED — California Proposition 5, which would have amended the state constitution to lower the supermajority vote requirement from 66.67% to 55% for local ballot measures related to issuing bonds for affordable and public housing. This would have had a ripple effect on future local ballot measures approving affordable housing funding.

PASSED — Los Angeles County, Measure A. Repealed the Measure H tax — a quarter-cent sales tax that would have expired in 2027 — and replaced it with a half-cent sales tax to support affordable housing, among other causes.