Differing views on measure to end rent control

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Hundreds are expected to descend on San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza today to protest a June ballot measure that would end rent control across the state and, many argue, would push thousands of people from their homes through evictions or rising prices.

But the measure's backers say rent control is a failure and that approval by voters ultimately would mean more apartments and lower rents.

Proposition 98 was written as a restriction on eminent domain that would prohibit the government from taking property for the benefit of a private party. Opponents say it would do far more: define "private" and "take" in terms so broad as to effectively overturn the state's approach to managing development and affordability.

The clause attracting the most attention is one that would ban government-imposed limits on what landlords can charge tenants. The change wouldn't affect existing leases, but once renters move out, property owners in cities with rent control laws, such as Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco, no longer would have to limit price increases on those units.