California Democrats prove that their affordability agenda is all talk | Opinion
California’s housing crisis hit another low this week, thanks to a gutless legislature that turned its back on the very people it claims to serve. Assembly Member Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, put forward AB 1157—a bill that sought to expand rent control in California. The intent of this bill represented a lifeline for renters and a check on runaway greed.
It didn’t even make it out of committee in the Assembly. The bill died on Tuesday, killed not by open opposition, but by five Democrats who couldn’t even muster the decency to vote. They are Assembly members: Rebecca Bauer Kahan, D-Orinda, Blanca Pacheco, D-Downey, Diane Papan, D-San Mateo, Catherine Stefani, D-San Francisco and Rick Chavez Zbur, D-Los Angeles.
California lawmakers love to posture about affordability, but they’re paralyzed by fear—afraid to anger voters, and terrified of crossing their corporate donors. The people’s needs don’t even make the shortlist when special interests are in the room.
Don’t let the party label fool you: Democrats aren’t natural champions of affordability. They have to be pushed, hard, and even then, they squirm.
The legislation would have restricted the ability of landlords to raise rents by 5% annually every year, cutting in half the state’s current limit. It would have also made the 2019 Tenant Protection Act permanent, as it is set to expire in 2030.
“Millions of Californians are still struggling with the highest cost of rent and we must do something to address the fact that the current law is not enough for our many renters,” Kalra said on Tuesday.
But of course, in Sacramento, courage is always in short supply.
Even after Kalra watered down the bill to appease skittish Democrats—removing protections for single-family homes—his colleagues still wouldn’t back him. The kicker? Kalra is the very chair of the committee and still, his own party left him twisting in the wind.
AB 1157’s defeat is proof: Too many California’s leaders pay lip service to the working class, leaving everyday people to drown while they cozy up to the landlord lobby.
Mr. Affordability nowhere to be seen
On Monday, before AB 1157 was up for vote, advocates walked to Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas’ office to speak to his heart on this matter. And, why would they not? Since the session began in 2024, the speaker has made it evident that affordability is his issue, one that he wants to fix. Surely he would be around, as the Legislature was in session that day. But what advocates got was a cold shoulder. Security said that he was on the way back to Salinas and would not be coming back.
So they stood inside his office and in the hallway outside, singing “we shall not be moved” and chanting for the bill to be passed.
But for some reason, office clerks found it funny, started smiling and even laughing at the advocates as they sang and shared their stories about the struggles of the high cost of living in the state.
Rivas’ office prohibited photography and video within the office.
Rivas wouldn’t even talk on the phone with these people to address what he and other Democrats are doing to push affordability.
These people were left on the doorstep of Rivas’ office, without hearing from the guy who claims to prioritize affordability.
Across the country, affordability is the battleground for restoring faith in government. It should be a rallying cry for the working class—a promise that they haven’t been forgotten as corporate profits soar. When politicians like Rivas wrap themselves in the language of affordability, it’s an empty gesture unless they actually deliver.
Get off that tightrope
Affordability will always be dead on arrival in California as long as special interests call the shots.
California Democrats have a severe lack of understanding of what a crisis means. This issue touches every person in every walk of life in this state. Spanish speakers, queer people, and the disabled, to name a few, were all present this week demanding Assembly members see their pain and act as though they can actually empathize with it.
Their refusal to act exposes the hollowness of all the talk about affordability from Rivas and his fellow Democrats.
