CORRESPONDENCE - WS-1 OPPOSITION

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Attached and included as a supplement to this letter are several reports on the rental housing market and more specifically the Impact of rent control. While I encourage you to review the data and utilize it In the course of your research, we have summarized some of the key points for you below. America's Rental Housing 2017 — December 2017; Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University ■ Slowdown in rent growth has occurred in markets across the country, but is most evident in metros where multifamily construction had been the strongest. • Vacancy rates are up over the past year In 94 of the 100 metros tracked by industry research house Realpage. ■ The need for housing assistance continues to grow. From 2001 to 2015, HUD's Worst Case Housing Needs 2017 Report to Congress shows that in a time where 600k more people received rental assistance, the number of people needing assistance exceeded 4.3 million. • Subsidized housing is at risk of loss either due to under -maintenance or expiring affordability periods. Public housing is particularly under threat, with a backlog of repairs in excess of $26 billion dollars as of 2010. • Rental housing demand has grown at an unprecedented pace over the last decade. This surge in rental households replaced a decade where rental housing saw decreased demand (94.04). • This decade has seen an increase in high earning renters, also known as renters by choice. Households age 50 and over accounted for more than half of the recent surge in renters. • Although rental trends and rates vary, 2017 saw the third consecutive year over year decline in growth rates from 5.6% in 2015 to 4.7% in 2016 and now 2.7% in 2017. This growth has allowed property owners to reinvest in their units, as discretionary spending or capital expenditures increased by more than 10% or $1,486 per unit over that timeframe. • Growth in renter incomes has outpaced the rise in housing casts since 2011 in all income quartlles. The Effects of Rent Control Expansion on Tenants, Landlords and Inequality: Evidence from San Francisco—October 2017; Rebecca Diamond, Tim McQuade and Franklin Qian at Stanford University • Rent control spurs high-end new development and owner -occupied housing that likely fueled the gentrification of San Francisco as these housing types cater mostly to higher income individuals. • From 1995 to 2012, the per person benefit to residents of rent controlled buildings was between $2,300 and $6,600 each year, with aggregate benefits of more than $393 million dollars annually. Substantial welfare losses due to decreased housing supply could be mitigated if insurance against large rent increases was provided as a form of government social insurance, instead of as a regulated mandate on landlords. Page 2 of 4