Tenants Rights Group Believes It Has Gathered Sufficient Valid Signatures to Qualify Rent Control Initiative For November Ballot

The Pasadena Tenant Justice Association will hold a press conference on March 28 to announce they have collected the necessary signatures to place a rent control initiative on the November ballot.

The group believes they have gathered 13,336 valid signatures.

After the press conference the signatures will be turned into the city clerk’s office.

According to its website, the Pasadena Tenant Justice Coalition is a coalition of the Pasadena Tenants Union and several partner organizations in the Pasadena community.

The groups are seeking to pass an amendment to the Pasadena City Charter which would create rent control and just-cause eviction protections in our city.

“The campaign believes we have collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot by the deadline,” said Ryan Bell. “We will be pressing hard to gather as many signatures as possible, right up to the deadline, to make sure we don’t fall short.”

The ballot provision would amend the city’s Charter to cap annual rent increases at 2-3%.

A new rental housing board established under the city’s charter amendment would administer the requirements.

Landlords would only be allowed to evict tenants for just causes, like failure to pay rent.

The amendment would ban landlords from evicting tenants in order to raise the rent.

The campaign has been endorsed by local City Councilmember Jess Rivas.

“One of my top priorities as a councilmember is ensuring Pasadenams stay housed,” Rivas told Pasadena Now. “The Pasadena Tenant Justice Coalition’s rent control and eviction protection initiative will help do just that by keeping rent increases to reasonable amounts and not astronomical ones that push people out of their homes.”

According to the group’s website, the campaign is also endorsed by District 7 candidate Jason Lyon and District 3 City Council candidate Brandon Lamar.

According to a February 23 update on real estate site Zumper.com, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Pasadena is currently $2,100, which represents a 12% increase compared to the previous year.

Over the past month, also according to Zumper, the average rent for a studio apartment in Pasadena decreased by -13% to $1,527. The average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment increased by 6% to $2,100, and the average rent for a 2-bedroom apartment decreased by -1% to $2,775.

Costs for the same apartments on other rental sites, however, tended to be much higher than the Zumper site, with many two-bedroom apartments renting from $2,500-3,800.

The City of Pasadena is currently still covered by a March 2020 moratorium on eviction for non-payment of rent by tenants experiencing financial impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.