Media
Here’s the latest news on rent control in Nevada.
Nevada, this is one time you should follow California
Nevada, this is one time you should follow California
April 22, 2025
Having been involved in California politics for decades, I would gladly exchange our state’s anti-business taxes and oppressive regulations for Nevada’s policies any day. I also understand that Nevadans — especially their legislators — strongly dislike hearing, “This is how we do it in California.”
However, there is one policy that Californians have repeatedly rejected, and that Nevadans should also oppose: rent control.
Last November, Californians overwhelmingly voted down Proposition 33, an effort to expand rent control throughout the state. Residents realized that the flawed initiative would have made California’s housing crisis even worse. This was the third time that Californians rejected rent control initiatives, as similar proposals were presented to voters in 2018 and 2020.
Proposition 33 aimed to expand local governments’ authority to enact rent control on more types of housing, including single-family homes and new apartments.
California’s rent control laws are primarily regulated at the local level, with many cities implementing their own ordinances. For example, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Berkeley have established specific rent control measures. In San Francisco, landlords are permitted to increase rents annually based on a percentage determined by the San Francisco Rent Board, which is currently set at 1.7%.
Statewide, those areas not covered by a local ordinance are governed by the Tenant Protection Act of 2019. This legislation capped annual rent increases for most residential properties at 5% plus the local rate of inflation, or 10% of the lowest rent charged in the previous 12 months, whichever is lower. However, the act exempts properties built after 2004, and single-family homes not owned by corporations or institutional investors.
Where rent control exists in California, it has been a major contributing cause of the state’s housing crisis. For example, a study by Stanford University found that in San Francisco, rent control reduced the rental housing supply by 15%. Landlords constrained by rent control often converted rental units into condominiums or redeveloped properties for sale. The study further concluded that the reduction in rental units contributed to a 5.1% increase in citywide rents, as the decreased supply heightened competition for remaining units.
Over 60% of California voters rejected Prop. 33, and the opposition crossed party lines. Governor Newsom and the California Republican Party both opposed Prop. 33. Additionally, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria joined 22 other California mayors in expressing their opposition to Proposition 33, calling it an anti-housing initiative. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said “Prop. 33 would make it harder for San Jose, and the state of California, to meet our affordable housing goals and help families wrestling with skyrocketing housing costs.”
Many major media outlets also opposed Prop 33. The San Francisco Chronicle said that one of Prop. 33’s provisions is a “recipe for disaster” that could lead to some communities building even less housing. The Orange County Register pointed out that Prop. 33 “discourages investors from building new apartments” and will only make the housing crisis worse.
Many cities in California have been dealing with rent control since the late 1970s. The housing markets in those same cities are among some of the most expensive in the country. That is no coincidence. Rent control may sound good, but in practice, it’s a disaster. It drives away investment, reduces housing supply, and violates property rights.
The Swedish economist Assar Lindbeck famously said, ““In many cases, rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city — except for bombing.”
Nevada should be a place where property owners can invest, developers can build, and families can find a place to call home. That’s how you solve a housing crisis — without turning to big government for answers like we have done in California. Nevada lawmakers should reject this failed policy and focus on solutions that actually work.
Jon Coupal is the president of Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the largest taxpayer advocacy organization in California.