Editorial: Fairfax should vote yes on Measure I to ax strict renter-supportive ordinances

Fairfax Town Council’s debate and 2022 adoption of strict rent-control and renter-protection ordinances stirred a local political skirmish.

It is far from over.

Measure I, an initiative authored by opponents of the new ordinances, would repeal them and, if passed, would require voter approval of any new renter-supportive town laws.

Measure I’s leaders got more than 1,100 voter signatures to put it on the ballot.

The Fairfax Town Council adopted rent control – setting an annual cap on rents not to exceed 5% or 75% of the consumer price index – in response to local renters’ complaints that they were being forced out of town by rising rents. Backers of the town’s cap say it has already helped out local renters who were faced with larger increases. This year, the cap – based on the ordinance and the CPI – is 2.5%.

Coming up with rent control and tenant protections that are reasonably fair to both landlords and tenants is not easy.

In Fairfax, backers of Measure I say the town’s law is one-sided in favor of tenants and that property owners’ concerns were ignored. They say the state since 2019 has had rent control, but backers of Fairfax’s law say that control has done too little to slow down increases.

Interestingly, this debate has divided local political alliances among some local leaders, who would usually side with the prevailing liberal politics in town, and are complaining that Measure I goes too far. They say it’s going to hurt property values and even lead many property owners to take rentals off the market – reducing the local inventory of affordable housing.

Councilmember Chance Curtano, however, is urging voters to reject Measure I, saying the ordinances provide a fair return for landlords and protects renters from having to move or being evicted by unfair increases. The state’s 2019 rent-control law doesn’t do enough to protect tenants from being priced out of their homes, he says.

While Curtano says the town’s law is “totally balanced,” he added that the council remains open to making changes to the existing law.

At the same time, backers of Measure I say property owners face rising utility bills, insurance rates and local taxes – costs they should be able to recover through rents.

It is clear this has become a contentious issue. On the Nov. 5 ballot, three incumbent council members are seeking reelection. They face four challengers, all of whom support repealing the town’s new renter-supportive ordinances. They are hardly the “corporate landlords” that Measure I’s opponents say are the reason Town Council members decided to pass more restrictive rent-control and tenant-protection laws.

The council’s stated intent – trying to prevent people from being priced out of Fairfax – is worthwhile. Rising rents are reaching a point where more people can’t afford them.

But the field of council candidates on the Nov. 5 ballot and the ongoing debate is a reflection that the Town Council failed to strike a balance that both sides can live with.

Measure I shows that this is an example of politics moving faster than the building of public consensus.

On Fairfax’s Nov. 5 ballot, passing Measure I would send the Town Council back to the drawing board to come up with a law that is fair to both parties in these housing contracts. Passing Measure I would mean a rewrite would need the approval of town voters, but its passage would make it clear a majority wants that say.