Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption Program.

Existing law authorizes local jurisdictions to establish controls on the price of residential units that may be offered for rent. Existing law, the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, prescribes statewide limits on the application of local rent control with regard to certain properties, including those that have a certificate of occupancy issued after February 1, 1995. This bill, until January 1, 2019, would enact the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption Program (SCRIE program) , a demonstration project to be implemented in the County of Alameda, the City and County of San Francisco, the County of Ventura, and the County of Santa Clara. The program would permit an eligible head of household in a rent-controlled property to apply to be exempt from rent increases for a 12-month period, with the associated loss of rent to be offset by a tax credit to be claimed by the landlord, as provided. The bill would define an eligible head of household as having certain characteristics, including being 62 years of age or older, and having a combined annual household income of $50,000 or less, more than 13 of which is spent on rent. The bill would require the Department of Housing and Community Development to provide advisory guidance to local rent control boards regarding the implementation and administration of the SCRIE program, to publicize the SCRIE program to senior citizens in rent-controlled properties in the jurisdictions to which the program applies, and to apply for federal funding for the program. This bill would permit an eligible head of household, on and after April 1, 2016, to apply annually to the appropriate local rent control board, to be defined as a supervising agency, for a rent increase exemption order and, if the relevant criteria are met, would require the agency to issue the order to the head of household, with a copy to his or her landlord along with information on the right to claim a related tax credit. By increasing the duties of local officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the tax imposed by that law. This bill would allow a credit against those taxes, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, and before January 1, 2020, for an amount equivalent to the rent a landlord does not receive as a result of a tenant's participation in the SCRIE program. The bill would prescribe the conditions pursuant to which the landlord could claim the tax credit, including the requirement that the credit be allowed only for the taxable year in which the taxpayer incurred the loss of the rent resulting from the increase exemption order. The bill would require the Department of Housing and Community Development to make a specified report to the Legislature on the program, which would include the feasability of establishing the program statewide. The bill would make a statement of legislative findings. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.