Prop 1, Prop 45, and the Santa Monica Measures: What the November 2026 Ballot Means for Southern California Owners
California's November 3, 2026 ballot carries 14 statewide propositions, two of which concern housing: Proposition 1, an $11.25 billion affordable housing bond, and Proposition 45, which would create a streamlined environmental review track for housing and other projects. Neither changes rent caps, just-cause rules, or the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance. The local measures that would affect owners are in Santa Monica, where Measures GG, RR, and VV would change rent control and eviction rules, including a limit on nonpayment evictions for small debts. Owners should check their own city's measures and confirm how any that pass apply to their property.
The November 3 ballot runs long: 14 statewide propositions, plus county and city measures depending on where you own. For Southern California property owners, the useful question is which of these actually change the rules for operating a rental. Most do not. Here is what is on the ballot and what it means. Results were not final at publication, so this is a guide to what is being decided.
Proposition 1: an $11.25 billion housing bond
Proposition 1, placed on the ballot by the Legislature, would authorize $11.25 billion in general obligation bonds, with roughly $7.2 billion directed to affordable rental housing and additional funds for homeownership programs for veterans and military families. It is described as the largest affordable housing bond in the state's history. Supporters say it would help finance tens of thousands of affordable homes; critics raise the cost of servicing the debt. For owners, it carries no direct obligations: it does not change what you can charge or how you manage a tenancy. Its effect, if any, is longer-term, through the supply of subsidized housing.
Proposition 45: streamlining environmental review
Proposition 45, the Building an Affordable California Act, would create an optional set of procedures under the California Environmental Quality Act for projects it defines as essential, including housing, and would set timelines for legal challenges to those projects. Supporters argue it would speed up construction that CEQA litigation currently delays; opponents raise concerns about weakening environmental review. It does not touch rent control or eviction law. It is most relevant to owners who develop, add units, or pursue projects that go through environmental review.
What is not on the statewide ballot
There is no statewide rent control measure this year. The 2024 proposition that would have expanded local rent control failed, and nothing similar qualified for 2026. AB 1482's cap and just-cause rules, and the Costa-Hawkins limits on local rent control, remain the statewide framework. For City of Los Angeles owners specifically, none of the city measures on this ballot change the Rent Stabilization Ordinance, AB 1482, or eviction rules.
Santa Monica: Measures GG, RR, and VV
The local action for Southern California owners is in Santa Monica, which has three measures touching rent control and evictions. Measure RR would bar nonpayment evictions where the unpaid amount is less than one month's fair market rent, a meaningful change for how small arrears are handled. Measure VV would extend new protections to renters of single-family homes and condominiums, categories that state law largely leaves outside local rent control. Measure GG would modify the city's rent control framework. Supporters frame these as closing gaps in tenant protection; opponents argue they add cost and risk for owners and could reduce the rental supply. Cudahy also has a local rent and eviction measure on the ballot.
What owners should do
Check the measures in your own city, not just the statewide ones. If you own in Santa Monica, Cudahy, or another city with a local measure, the outcome may change what reasons support an eviction, how small nonpayment is treated, and which units are covered. Once results are final, confirm how any new rules apply to your property before you serve a notice or plan an increase. That is the step that keeps an owner out of trouble when the ground shifts.