November 6th – Vote Yes on 5, No on 10!

  • 6 years ago
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There will be two initiatives on the statewide ballot this November that could dramatically
affect housing opportunities, private property rights and the availability of affordable
housing.

The first is Prop 5, an initiative to create new homeownership opportunities by
generating more sales of single family homes in existing neighborhoods. This will benefit
young families at a time when California faces a severe shortage of houses for sale. Prop 5, the
Property Tax Fairness Initiative, qualified for the ballot earlier this year after C.A.R. submitted nearly 1
million voter signatures to the Secretary of State’s office—a strong indicator of voter support.
• Here’s how it will work:
o Seniors often live in homes that no longer meet their needs because their homes may be
too big or too far from family. If these homeowners want to downsize or move closer to
their children, they could face a doubling or tripling of their property taxes, or what’s being
called a moving penalty.
o Proposition 5 provides appropriate relief by allowing those eligible with the ability to
transfer their current property tax base to the purchase of another home in any of
California’s 58 counties. The new property tax for that individual would be based on their
original home’s assessment, in addition to an adjustment consisting of the difference in
value between the sale price of the original home and the sale price of the new home.
o Proposition 5 would provide respite to seniors (many on fixed incomes), the disabled and
disaster victims by allowing them the flexibility to move to a more suitable home. Right now,
too many feel locked in place.
o This will help boost the housing inventory in existing neighborhoods as older homeowners
move from their single-family homes that no longer meet their needs and free up housing
for future generations.

The other measure of concern on the November ballot is Prop 10, the so-called “Affordable
Housing Act,” that would actually make the housing crisis worse by repealing the long
standing Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, eventually allowing local governments to impose
draconian rent control measures.
Here’s why you should vote NO:
• Proposition 10 will reduce availability of affordable and middle-class housing. Academic
experts from the University of Southern California, U.C. Berkeley and Stanford agree that it would
drive up rents, while discouraging new construction and reduce the availability of affordable and
middle-class housing. Even the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst has found that passage of
Proposition 10 would both discourage new construction and result in existing rental units being
taken off the market, reducing availability of rental housing.
• Proposition 10 will increase the cost of existing housing. Proposition 10 will cause
homeowners to sell or convert rental properties into other more profitable uses, such as short-term
vacation listing services like Airbnb. That would increase the cost of existing housing and make it
even harder for renters to find affordable housing.
• Proposition 10 will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars per year, reducing revenues available for
education and public safety. The Legislative Analyst also said that Proposition 10 would likely reduce the
value of rental properties and single-family homes, driving down local property tax revenues by up to
hundreds of millions of dollars per year. Driving down home values will hurt middle-class families and will
also reduce the funding available for vital services like schools, public safety, road repairs, education, and
fire safety.
• Proposition 10 will eliminate homeowner protections. Proposition 10 repeals protections homeowners
have enjoyed for over 20 years, and lets the government dictate pricing for privately owned single-family
homes, controlling how much homeowners can charge to rent out their home – or even just a room.
Proposition 10 might even lead to bureaucrats imposing oppressive surcharges when an owner takes a
home off the rental market and chooses to occupy it.

Vote Yes to PASS Prop 5 and Vote No to DEFEAT Prop 10!

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