Opinion: Chula Vista should not punish property owners

The city of Chula Vista is rushing to pass an overreaching and punitive new law, the Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, in spite of many calls for further analysis and community input.

Many immigrants like myself saved up for many years to purchase and manage rental housing as an investment. This law will lead people like me to sell off a rental home, which is in some cases our only asset. We planned our retirements around this income.

While the city claims it has made an effort to avoid affecting “mom and pop” housing providers, the truth is that this ordinance would unfairly burden all property owners — big and small. It even creates new criminal penalties including a misdemeanor conviction and jail time, without any education for housing providers to learn how to be in compliance.

This is all unprecedented in Chula Vista’s history and deserves much more review.

Aurora Murillo
Chula Vista

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Chula Vista City Council will soon consider an ordinance to further tie the hands of housing providers at a time when we need housing more than ever. Without justification, it would go above and beyond California’s rental regulations. This is unnecessary. We are actually seeing fewer evictions than prior to the pandemic.

I run a property management business that includes 945 apartments in Chula Vista – with a low 1.3% eviction rate. This is proof that state rental regulations, including the recent eviction moratorium, and the rental assistance currently in place have worked effectively. The real issue is that we need more housing to be built.

Cities and counties should be held accountable for violating state mandates to set aside land for affordable housing AND the mandated requirement to streamline affordable housing approvals.

Chip Crandall
President
Torrey Pines Property Management