Newark Voters Might Have Final Say Over Rent Control

Earlier this year, Newark landlords had scored a win. The Newark City Council adopted changes to its rent control law that allowed for 20-percent increases on rent-controlled apartments if landlords made significant renovations to a unit after the tenant moved out.

But tenants said 20 percent wastoo high - especially in a high-poverty city that's been seeing rents creep-up in its gentrifying downtown.

Now, it appears very likely that Newark residents and the city's landlords will face-off over the issue directly in November. Various community activists have secured the 1,192 signatures needed for a referendum that would slash the maximum rent increases in half —to 10 percent. The referendum takes the issue out of the City Council's hands and into the voters'.

The Council does have the power to vote on the measure to slash rent increases, but they can only enact it; they cannot quash it, according to city officials. Council members have shown little interest in taking a vote.

The issue is one tenants advocates say is critical; it's a way to keep rents affordable. Under the proposal, landlords would have to invest the equivalent of one year's rent into renovating a unit in order to get a 10 percent increase in the rent. The measure only applies to rent-controlled units.

The current law, which the Council adopted in March, allows for a 20 percent increase, after spending the equivalent of eight months of rent in renovations. The renovations can only be done on vacant units.

Landlords, and Councilman John Sharpe James, say  if the voters support the proposed change, it will stifle growth. They say the existing law provides an incentive for landlords to make improvements to units. James said that is especially important in the West and South wards, where the housing stock is particularly poor.