Measure H Results: What We Know So Far About Pasadena’s Rent Control Initiative

Live Results

Proponents of Pasadena's Measure H have declared victory, saying their ballot initiative is set to bring rent control to the city.

"Pasadena voters have spoken," the Yes On H campaign's Twitter account posted on Tuesday afternoon. "The rent is too high, evictions too often unjustified. We have stood together and made our voices heard."

The results at 4:26pm on Tuesday showed Measure H leading with just over 52% of the vote.

If the results hold, Pasadena will join a regional trend that has seen other L.A County cities passing new limits on rent hikes at a time when housing costs for tenants are outpacing wage growth.

Understanding Pasadena's Measure H

Campaign volunteers gather to knock on doors in support of Measure H, a rent control initiative in Pasadena

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David Wagner/LAist

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Measure H would cap annual rent hikes at 75% of the local consumer price index (a common measure of inflation) for tenants living in Pasadena apartments built before Feb. 1, 1995. It would also implement new eviction protections beyond what’s currently required in state law.

Here are the details: Currently, Pasadena – like many cities in L.A. County – has no local limits on rent increases. Instead, there’s a state law, AB 1482, that covers rental housing built more than 15 years ago. But that law allows rent increases to outpace inflation. Under AB 1482, tenants in Pasadena and other parts of the state that lack local rent control can now receive rent hikes of up to 10%.

Tenants have said large rent hikes put them under enormous financial pressure, and could end up driving them out of Pasadena, even out of state. Tenant organizers in Pasadena had tried and failed to pass rent control before, but they said this time renters — who make up more than half of households in the city — would vote for change.

On the other side, landlord groups said stricter limits on rent increases will only further harm small landlords who have struggled to keep up with rising maintenance costs and missed payments under L.A. County’s COVID-era eviction protections for tenants.

In addition to capping annual rent hikes, Measure H would require landlords to provide a “just cause” for evicting a tenant, such as non-payment of rent or causing a nuisance.

This year alone, the cities of Pomona, Bell Gardens and the San Francisco Bay Area city of Antioch have all passed new forms of local rent control. Outside of Pasadena, rent control measures were also on the ballot this year in Santa Monica and Richmond, CA.

You can read more about Measure H here.

Follow The Money

The campaign to pass Measure H drew financial support from the political action committee of SEIU Local 2015, a long-term care workers union, and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, an L.A. nonprofit which has bankrolled slow-growth initiatives in the past.

Top contributors to the No On Measure H campaign largely included landlord and real estate industry groups, including the National Association of Realtors, the California Apartment Association, the California Association of Realtors and the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles.

A Note On The Results

Tracking Your Ballot

You can track the status of your ballot:

• Voters in L.A. County
• Voters anywhere in California

If your mail-in ballot is rejected for any reason (like a missing or mismatched signature), your county registrar must contact you to give you a chance to fix it. In Los Angeles County, the registrar will send you a notification by mail and you have until Nov. 28 to reply and "cure" your ballot.

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