HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/24/2026 Item 4a, Halls
Leslie Halls <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Rental registry
I have lived in San Luis Obispo since 1979. I do NOT own rental property here but just have my own home.
At one time I considered putting in an AD,U but the costs (over $100,000) were not worth it.
I understand your concern that renters pay too much of their income for housing, but many home
owners like me are in the same boat. A spouse gets laid off or dies (my situation); water, sewer and
garbage rates go up; new school bonds pass, adding to the tax burden; and let's not forget that
appliances wear out and must be replaced, usually at the most inconvenient time. I had to replace my
shake roof in 2014 ($14,000) and periodically make other costly repairs on my 1960s-era house. My
recent homeowners quote was over $7100.
I don't know if you are a homeowner, but my point is, everyone's costs have risen, and there are a lot of
homeowners who, like renters, are also challenged to come up with their housing costs every month due
to all of the above. Just because one class of people (renters) face financial challenges does not mean
others who also face the same challenges should be forced to underwrite the formers' expenses by
effectively subsidizing their rent. Many of these rentals were purchased as investments, just like stocks
or annuities. Rent control, where this is leading, is effectively a discriminatory tax on owners' income in
addition to the other taxes they pay on the rental income such as income tax and property taxes.
The housing stock, per a city report some seven or eight years ago, is in good shape by and large.
Moreover, people who have good tenants tend to keep them. I know someone who has lived in the same
tiny one bedroom apartment since the 1980s. His rent is now $1500/month. The landlord could probably
get more, but he is a good tenant, pays on time and doesn't trash the place. I know of other housing like
this, below market rates, owned by people who have good tenants and realize upping their rent means
other costly tradeoffs, such as finding new tenants, updating, etc. But this never shows up in housing
reports.
The last thing I would want is some city inspector coming out to my rental to look for trouble to cite me or
charge me to make money for the city. This is really what this is about - a money grab.
Based on all I have read, this rental registry is the first step to rent control. This proposal requires hiring
additional staff at a time when the city is already in debt ($185M to CalPERS alone!) and with the costs to
implement, will not accomplish anything to assist our city's finances nor really help renters. The
homeless population here will not be helped. We are building lots and lots of low income rentals,
downtown, at Johnson and Bishop, etc. You are looking for a solution to a nonexistent problem.
Again, I don't own rentals and frankly, I am glad I don't. DOn'tbe surprised if this ordinance, if
implemented, will take properties that are rentals off the market and further exacerbate the high costs of
living here.
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SIncerely,
Leslie Halls
1359 Oceanaire Drive
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
wallis8124@ gmail.com
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