6 North Bay Business Journal MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 2023

Renters grapple with cost spikes

Prices increased in Napa,
Sonoma counties after
protections expired in ’22
By SARA EDWARDS
The Press Democrat

R enters in Sonoma and Napa counties

have seen soaring rental prices over
the past few years with little relief
predicted anytime soon.
It’s meant dramatic personal choic-
es for many renters: Do they take on a
roommate? Move back in with parents?
Perhaps pick up a second job? Or, look
outside the two counties and commute a
greater distance?
Following the ending of renter protec-
tions in 2022 for some California counties,
experts noticed rent prices immediately
started to jump.
Shelly Massey, 57, was born and raised
in Petaluma and moved into her Rohnert
Park apartment in 1988. Her rent was
$570 a month — including gas, electricity,
cable, water and trash — for a two-bed-
room, two-bathroom apartment with
access to a pool and two parking spots.
Massey’s rent increased in small
increments, but she has watched her rent
spike within the past eight years.
Between 2003 and 2014, Massey’s rent
increases were minimal and no higher
than $40 every few years. But it was
CHRISTOPHER CHUNG / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
in 2015, when she was paying $1,200 a Shelly Massey reacts to a picture colored by neighbor Israel Escobar, 6, in her Rohnert Park apartment on Aug. 10. Massey’s apartment complex was
month, when she started seeing larger recently bought by a new owner, and she faces increases to her rent.
hikes, with the biggest spike in 2017 when
her rent was raised twice in one year. the index.
She now pays $1,980 for the same apart- Average rent prices in Napa have start-
ment she’s lived in since 1988. ed to level off to $3,227.93 in June follow-
Massey was able to work from home ing an abrupt spike that lasted between
over the past year but recently got a new February and April. Napa County saw a
full-time job in Novato so she could afford similar peak in rent prices last August.
her rent.
She worries she’ll have to get a second WHY ARE RENTS SO HIGH?
part-time job to afford her apartment. Part of the reason for recent increases
“It feels discriminatory because as we in rent prices is due to the expiration
get older, our income becomes even more in 2022 of a cap on increases in rent
limited,” she said. “I also know so many for fire-ravaged counties in California,
people where their kids can’t move on including Sonoma and Napa.
with their lives and live at home because There is a state law enacted in 2020
they can’t afford the rents.” that caps rent increases for many rentals
The Zillow Observed Rent Index at 5% a year plus the local rate of infla-
measures changes in rents over time in a tion, or 10%, whichever is lower. That is
given region. Index prices represent what set to expire in 2030.
renters should expect to pay in that area Single-family homes and buildings
and reflect seasonal adjustments. under 15 years old are exempt.
Rent prices have skyrocketed in Sono- Because of the expiration in 2022,
ma County since 2021 with the highest housing experts said landlords who were
BETH SCHLANKER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
recorded average asking price sitting at Joe Lepori, right, and Leah Cambra of Mike’s Painting touches up a stairwell in June at the Caritas
$2,714.21 in June of this year, according to See RENT page 7 Village affordable housing complex, which includes 20 apartments in Napa.