Assemblymember Rob Bonta

CC: Tony Thurmond, David Chiu, Phil Ting, Richard Bloom

California State Capitol, P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249
RE: AB 1506 - Residential Rent Control: Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act

Dear Assemblymember Bonta:

East Bay Forward and our membership write in support of your bill AB 1506, the repeal of Costa-Hawkins.
While it is unfortunate that the bill has been tabled for this session, we look forward to supporting it in the
future.

East Bay Forward is a regional network of renters, homeowners, landlords, and housing advocates
throughout the East Bay who organize for housing. We believe that housing is infrastructure instead of an
investment, and that immediate action needs to be taken to protect low- and middle-income Californians
from the rising rents caused by our severe housing shortage.

Rent control is important and vital to the ability of many Californians to stay in their homes, but Californias
housing shortage is affecting more and more people, especially in cities where strong rent-control and
eviction protections have yet to be enacted. The explosion of rent-control measures on multiple municipal
ballots shows us that we must do something to address the effects of the housing shortage and stabilize
housing and rents for all Californians. Repeal of Costa Hawkins is not a silver bullet, but AB 1506,
combined with other reforms in streamlining approvals of new housing and increased funding for
affordable housing, has potential to address these issues.. SB 35, AB 678/SB 167, and SB 2 are
examples of reforms we support along with this bill. Additionally, we support a rolling phase in period for
rent control of, for example, 10 years after the issuance of an occupancy permit, so that rent control does
not render new home building economically infeasible. We also support expanding rent control to single
family homes, provided that the homeowner owns at least 5 housing units in California.

The collective members of East Bay Forward are encouraged by Assemblymember Bontas meaningful
legislation and commitment to start finding solutions to our states housing shortage. We look forward to
working with you to advance AB 1506 and many other bills that will address our housing shortage head
on.

Sincerely,

The 400 members and supporters of East Bay Forward, including:

Victoria Fierce, Oakland, 94612

Angela Hockabout, Alameda, 94502
Diego Aguilar-Canabal, Berkeley, 94709
Gregory Magofa, Berkeley, 94704
Justin Horner, Oakland, 94618
Tommaso Sciortino, Oakland 94609
Brian Hanlon, Oakland 94612
Ernest Brown, Oakland 94612
Julia Schnell, Berkeley 94709