SACRAMENTO, CA – AB 1157, a key piece of tenant protection legislation, has been shelved until 2026 following aggressive lobbying by the California Apartment Association (CAA), a powerful landlord industry group accused of blocking tenant protections across the state according to reporting by Patrick Range McDonald, Housing Is a Human Right
The bill, introduced by Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose), aimed to lower the rent cap set by the 2019 Tenant Protection Act and extend protections to renters in single-family homes—many of whom are increasingly housed by corporate landlords. If passed, the bill could have offered expanded safeguards for millions of California renters amid the state’s deepening affordability crisis.
Instead, Kalra announced this week that the bill would be made a two-year bill, meaning it will not advance during the current legislative session.
In a statement, Kalra thanked his co-authors and supporters, saying, “As we enter an economic downturn and vulnerable Californians enter more dire financial situations, we must guide our policies with empathy for one another, especially as it pertains to keeping families in their homes.” He added, “In the fourth largest economy in the world, systemic inequality continues to weigh down millions of Californians. Yet, we must keep up the fight—housing is a human right.”
According to a report by Housing Is a Human Right, the California Apartment Association and its allies—including corporate landlords and anti-rent control groups like California YIMBY and YIMBY Action—launched an aggressive behind-the-scenes campaign to pressure lawmakers and block AB 1157 from moving forward. Critics have long described the CAA as a lobbying arm for large real estate interests, with a record of pouring millions into state politics to influence housing policy.
The CAA issued a press release shortly after Kalra pulled the bill, repeating claims that rent regulations deter housing development and worsen affordability—claims that housing experts increasingly reject.
The CAA also publicly thanked California YIMBY and YIMBY Action for supporting its opposition and touted that over 150 landlords visited Sacramento to lobby legislators. The credibility of that figure was questioned by tenant advocates, given recent revelations that the CAA paid actors to pose as concerned residents during its effort to repeal a rent stabilization ordinance in Concord.
While landlord lobbyists continue to argue that rent control stifles new construction, economists and housing policy researchers have countered with mounting evidence to the contrary. In a letter to the Biden administration, dozens of leading economists asserted that outdated economic models used to oppose rent regulation have been disproven by real-world studies.
“There is substantial empirical evidence that rent regulation policies do not limit new construction, nor overall supply of housing,” the letter stated.
In a Harvard Business Review white paper, researchers Brian Callaci and Sandeep Vaheesan further argued that the housing market cannot be fixed without confronting the power landlords hold over pricing, rethinking deregulation, and expanding public-sector housing initiatives.
“Any plan to overhaul the housing market needs to, first, confront the power of landlords to raise rents,” the authors wrote. “Second, it requires rethinking public governance of housing markets… and third, it needs to provide more muscular government involvement in housing, through price regulation, more robust planning, and even direct public provision.”
Tenant Advocates Plan to Fight On
Despite the setback, tenant advocates see the delay of AB 1157 as temporary and are expected to rally around the bill next year. Organizations such as Housing Is a Human Right, along with other social justice coalitions, remain committed to advancing tenant protections through what they call the “3 Ps” strategy: protect tenants, preserve existing affordable housing, and produce new homes, particularly for low-income and unhoused residents.
“The California Apartment Association wants to maintain a status quo that allows Big Real Estate to drive rents higher without oversight,” said one advocate. “But this fight isn’t over.”
