The Orange County Business Council recently released the results of a poll that is claimed to show that a November ballot measure to expand the authority of local governments to enact rent control on homes and apartments would fail if Orange County voters voted right now.
The survey about the so-called Affordable Housing Act, which was conducted by the OCBC’s nonprofit Center for a New California, reportedly found 42 percent against the measure versus 39 percent for it.
“County voters are generally upbeat about the county’s direction and future, and support for rent control falls far below majority support at just 39 percent yes in the county,” says Lucy Dunn, the OCBC president and CEO whose bread has been buttered by builders, slumlords and land barons (among others) for decades.
For those of you wondering whether to pay the light bill, put food on your family’s table or deal with your out-of-whack rent payment, don’t feel that put off about such a giddy stance by “the haves.” After all, things are tough all over.
Witness: Orange County houses that are listed for more than $1.25 million are expected to remain on the market from 113 days to up to 427 days for those at the highest end, according to Reports on Housing.
Such fab homes make up about a third of OC’s residential real estate stock for sale yet only represent 14 percent of demand.
Erin Hudson, writing for Bloomberg, reports that the phenomenon is even being experienced by big-name owners, including Warren Buffett, whose Emerald Bay beach house has been on the market (at $11 million) for more than a year.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.