Utah legislators put a stake through the heart of rent control as a means of maintaining affordable housing stock in 1987.
The Legislature passed a law that prohibits cities from approving rent-control measures "without the express approval of the Legislature."And that's just the way it ought to be, say Utah landlords.
"We definitely don't want rent control here," said Stephen England, president of the Salt Lake Apartment Association. "Rents are not out of control here."
While JEDI Women, an activist group that led the fight to abolish rental application fees in the Salt Lake Valley last year, might argue with that statement, they say pursuing rent control in Utah would be a waste of time.
"A lot of our members think it would be a good thing," said Beth Kelly, JEDI Women staff member. "But we think Utah's such a conservative state, it's unlikely to ever happen in our lifetimes."
Rent control is actually a widely used means of maintaining affordable housing stock elsewhere in the nation. About 65 percent of the rental units in California, for example, are governed by some form of rent control.
Santa Monica, a Southern California beach community of 90,000, has what is arguably the toughest rent control system in the nation.
"Obviously, from a property owner's point of view, it has had a terrible effect on our ability to deliver a quality product to the market," said Bob Sullivan, who owns a property management company and is past president of the Apartment Owners Association of Greater Los Angeles. "There is no incentive on the part of the landlord to rent to anyone but the person with the most money and ability to do work (paint, carpet and install drapes)."
With rents suppressed, landlords can't afford to do that work, Sullivan said. So in the end, the people rent control is supposed to help still get shut out, he said.
But advocates of Santa Monica's rent-control law says it has done exactly what it was intended to do - keep rental units affordable for all mixes of people.
Santa Monica residents passed a rent-control law by popular vote in 1979, one year after a similar measure was turned down by the electorate.
"In Santa Monica, when we first started rent control it was because there were a lot of rent increases going on. Land was turning over very fast, and there were sometimes two or three rent increases in a year," said Michael Tarbet, steering committee member for Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights. "What it has done is stabilize the community."
The law created a five-member rent board that sets rent increases or decreases, arbitrates tenant/
landlord disputes and hears requests from property owners for rent increases to make property improvements. The law also requires 20 percent of the units in newly constructed complexes to be set aside for low-income tenants.
Unlike other rent-control systems, rent is tied to the unit rather than occupancy. That means property owners can't increase rents when a tenant moves out.
In the past 15 years, the board has increased rents about 4 percent per year. A one-bedroom apartment on average rents for $550 in Santa Monica.
"Rent control, particularly in Santa Monica, has stabilized the population, provided for a mix of incomes, protected low-income and senior people who haven't been displaced, so it's done those things it was intended to do," said Tony Trendacosta, general counsel for the Rent Board.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Lowest metro vacancy rates, 1992
1 Salt Lake City-Ogden
2 Honolulu
3 Rochester
4 San Francisco
5 Nashville
Highest metro vacancy rates, 1992
1 Richmond-Petersburg
2 Oklahoma City
3 Orlando
4 Houston
5 Atlanta
SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, Apartment Association of Utah