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you with whatever statistics you need for the City’s rental housing rather than imposing a complicated and expensive rent registry.
Without government intervention, the market will sort itself out – there will be sufficient housing inventory, and people will have choices. Once you start going “down the road” of rent control, history has told us what will happen. The developers are off the hook for at least 15 years, and owners of older apartment buildings will leave the business resulting in fewer available rental units, or owners will not be able to afford to maintain their properties which reduces the quality of available housing. With rent control, you will be trying to force artificial income levels on owners who have no relief on the expense side of things.
Then, what happens next? Rental units are removed from the market and converted into condominiums or higher-end luxury rentals. When long-term owners are unable to increase rents to meet increasing costs, Ventura will have issues like this. Tenants will end up living in what will be privately subsidized housing, under an artificial rent bubble that doesn’t reflect the current market. Owners will suffer the financial consequences of this. But, subsidized housing should not be the responsibility of private citizens as there is no such thing as private welfare – this should be government’s responsibility. What I find is really sad for the City’s tenants is that your future actions can cause the opposite of what you are trying to achieve. Government intervention can and will develop unintended consequences in the community.
We have chosen not to invest any more of our money in our hometown of Ventura. It’s really very sad that my husband and I do not want to invest in rental property in Ventura because of these pending regulations and the false impression the members of the City Council has about rental housing providers. We also own single family homes that we lease to people who would have no way to live where they live today if we had sold them. If we were to sell these homes, Ventura will never get them back because of the shortage of real estate stock.
Ventura is not Long Beach. We are also not in a COVID business environment anymore. Even the State recognizes this. The City’s housing providers should be treated fairly and with respect by the City of Ventura and the City Council. That
was not apparent to me last night.
Kelly W., Ventura
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