The Challege:
The City of Los Angeles has more than 600,000 rental housing units under the Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO). Commonly called "rent control", the RSO is applied to apartment buildings built before 1978 and is applied regardless of tenants' incomes. The RSO allows a rental property owner to increase rents in accord with the Consumer Price Index (CPI), up to a maximum annual level of 8 percent. For years when the CPI is low, a 3 percent "floor" exists so that RSO landlords may still raise rents by up to 3 percent, bringing the rents closer to market rate levels.

In late 2009, the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) released a study of the City's RSO that included a recommendation to eliminate the 3 percent floor. Tenants-rights groups used this study and lobbied the City Council to order a rent freeze, a temporary elimination of the rent floor, on RSO units in the 2010-2011 fiscal year. After several hearings, the Council's Housing Committee approved the rent freeze with a 3 to 1 vote and sent it to the full City Council for a final vote. The California Apartment Association of Los Angeles (CAA-LA) asked Cerrell Associates to help defeat the proposed measure.

Key Cerrell Activities:

Lobbying/Messaging:

• Built a grassroots campaign urging CAA-LA members and other RSO owners to reach out to city officials. We developed key messages that resonated with councilmembers and had property owners call, email and meet with the elected officials.
• Worked with CAA-LA to commission an economic analysis through AECOM Economics that found that RSO buildings contribute 14,000 jobs and $150 million in annual tax revenue to the City of Los Angeles. These figures were instrumental to our efforts and resonated highly with councilmembers concerned about unprecedented budget deficits facing Los Angeles.
• Engaged the media and helped CAA-LA gain featured coverage in the Los Angeles Business Journal and also helped educate reporters about housing issues.
• Created a broad coalition that included realtors, rental housing providers including the “mom and pop” owners whose small buildings are often the source of their retirement income, and business organizations such as the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the Valley Industry Commerce Association and the Central City Association.
• Mobilized apartment owners and other coalition members resulting in hundreds of stakeholders turning out to Council meetings to speak against the freeze. Additionally, Cerrell had CAA-LA members bring in maintenance workers, apartment managers and other workers who would have been harmed by the rent freeze to tell their stories at Council meetings. By mobilizing our coalition and utilizing all of these people and our messages, CAA-LA was able to change the dynamic from one that focused solely on tenants to one that recognized the struggles of RSO housing providers.

Results that Speak for Themselves:
Cerrell Associates’ strategic counsel, key relationships, messaging and organizing efforts helped CAA-LA defeat the proposed rent freeze at the full City Council by an eight to six vote. Without these efforts, the Los Angeles City Council would probably have sided with the tenant’s rights groups and that the rent freeze would have been enacted in 2010. Our creative approach, hard work and diligence showed elected officials that property owners and renters are inherently intertwined. In order to capitalize on this momentum, we helped CAA-LA create the Los Angeles Housing Council (LAHC)—an organization that brings together property owners, contractors, maintenance workers and business organizations to give them a stronger unified voice at City Hall. We created a website and crafted a social media strategy to mobilize our members via Twitter, Facebook, and online newsletters. The LAHC was instrumental in influencing subsequent proposals. Cerrell Associates continues to work with CAA-LA on housing issues in Southern California.

Contact Us
Lisa Gritzner, President
P:323-466-3445 | E:lisa@cerrell.com | web:www.cerrell.com

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