Montclair Landlords Fail To Get Rent Control Challenge On Ballot

MONTCLAIR, NJ — Despite a campaign to put Montclair’s recently passed rent control law before local voters, a group of landlords and property owners have failed to gather enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, according to officials.

In April, the Montclair Town Council gave the thumbs-up to a rent control law that limits annual increases to 2.5 percent for seniors and 4.25 percent for other tenants, with a few exceptions.

Some Montclair residents have claimed the new ordinance is a long overdue and much-needed victory for people who are at the mercy of landlords seeking to raise their rents. But critics, including the Montclair Property Owners Association (MPOA), have argued the law is being pushed through during the coronavirus crisis and will impact property taxes paid by single-family homeowners.

• See related article: Battle Over Rent Control In Montclair Continues

The law – which hasn’t taken effect yet – has since hit roadblocks from the MPOA, which tried unsuccessfully to raise the 1,020 signatures needed to put the law before voters in an election.

The MPOA’s petition effort took place electronically, as allowed by Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order in April. Only 914 of the 1,528 signatures that the MPOA submitted to the township clerk’s office were deemed “acceptable” due to alleged issues such as unverified signatures.

The group has 10 days to amend the petition by filing a supplementary petition upon additional papers signed, Montclair Local reported.

MPOA spokesperson Ron Simoncini said the rejections are politically motivated and took place during a time when the burden of signature collection was “unthinkable.”

“The preponderance of our signatories were reached [via] email or text message with a link to our online petition,” Simoncini stated. “They then signed with their mouse, mostly, or a stylus or a fingertip. When people go to the grocery store and they sign a screen pad with their finger or the stylus, that signature bears scant resemblance to the signature they would use on a check. The municipality knows that, and to apply a stickler standard to their signature or insignificant absences or portions of their addresses ignores that the intent of the voter was to sign the petition and the signature should therefore be honored.”

Here’s why the law should be nixed, according to a Sept. 24 statement from the MPOA, which can be seen in full here. It reads:

“The ordinance was developed in a ‘back-room’ discussion and was never announced in compliance with regulations, which is before the Superior Court … Montclair has voted on rent control before and every time it has failed to pass.”

The MPOA added:

“We acknowledge that there were unconscionable rent increases for some tenants and expressed our commitment to work to prevent that in the future. We don’t think rent control is the best solution, but most property owners live with rent control in other towns and it could work in Montclair, as well. But this ordinance is an inexcusably poorly conceived and crafted document that the tenants themselves should object to. We also regret the division this has caused in Montclair. But the community would be 100 percent behind this referendum if they realized the ramifications of this ordinance – and the dangerous precedent it sets where your elected officials can pass any law they wish without the input of the public.”

Local advocacy groups Tenants Organization of Montclair (TOOM) and Montclair Citizens for Rent Control cheered last week’s announcement in a joint statement, but added that the fight may not be over yet.

Advocates wrote:

“While the MPOA has 10 days to ‘cure’ their petition with more certified voter signatures, and may even achieve that, they have shown their true ugly colors. We look forward to the day when tenants gain their full footing to engage in reasonable dialog with ethical landlords at open hearings before a town rent control board – and this special-interest group retreats into the shadows.”

According to Montclair Citizens for Rent Control:

"Rent control maintains the affordability of existing housing stock as reinvestment occurs, stabilizing existing tenants so that they, too, will benefit from improved neighborhoods, along with homeowners, landlords, developers and new residents. Renters are particularly vulnerable to displacement in times of low vacancy rates and ‘hot’ or inflationary housing markets. When gentrification occurs landlords often sell their property or significantly increase rents to benefit from the changing market. In either case, tenants with low and moderate incomes are displaced. In the past, Montclair has prided itself as a community that has fostered diverse, stable, and racially mixed neighborhoods. But gentrification and landlords’ greed have led to excessive and unconscionable rent increases. Rent-gouging in Montclair is a fact of life. Annual rent increases of 30 percent or more in Montclair have made it impossible for many long-term residents to remain in town."

"Hundreds of Montclair tenant have been displaced and this has negatively impacted our diversity," the group says. "Since the early 2000’s Montclair has lost more than 25 percent of its African-American population, almost all whom were tenants."

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