The Orange County Register: Rent control gains traction as housing costs ‘crush’ tenants

Clipboards in hand, signature-gatherers are fanning out across four Southern California cities this month, turning up at supermarkets and metro stops and apartment complexes to pitch a measure for the November ballot that they say will be salvation for renters. But for landlords, their pitch is blasphemy. At issue is whether the cities of Long Beach, Inglewood, Glendale and Pasadena should join a tiny band of California cities that already have rent control and “just cause” eviction laws that prevent landlords from ousting tenants in good standing. And the idea has already spread far beyond those four cities. Rent control battles have been flaring up across California over the past two years, as rents have soared and investors have fixed up older buildings to jack up profits, often pushing out longstanding tenants in the process.