Monterey Rental Registry 4

“Monterey Rental Registry 4” – Monterey Herald – Sept. 13, 2023

At the Sept. 5 Monterey City Council meeting on the proposed rental registry, council member Alan Haffa made a good case for exempting both auxiliary dwelling units (ADUs) and homeowners who rented rooms. But his case is more general than he thinks.

Haffa argued that he and other members of the council want to encourage more ADUs and more room rentals. That makes sense.

But note his implicit argument: subjecting providers of ADUs and rooms in homes to the rental registry regulations will discourage the provision of such housing. If Haffa understands that, does he not understand, as many members of the public tried to tell him, that subjecting other owners to the regulations will also discourage them?

The fact is that when you raise costs, as the rental registry will do, you discourage the activity being regulated.

— David R. Henderson, Pacific Grove