Updated 10/31/2025 6:11 am PST
Illustration by Julian Lucas
A week after the Pomona City Council quietly rejected a second reading of the city’s rent-stabilization ordinance, residents are still waiting for an explanation. The Oct. 20 vote, taken by computer, without discussion, blocked a measure that would have made Pomona’s temporary rent cap permanent.
Four councilmembers voted with property, not with people.
Pomona’s housing fight came to a head again Monday night. The City Council voted 3–4 to reject the second reading of Ordinance No. 4359, a measure that would have made the city’s temporary rent-stabilization law permanent.
According to city of Pomona archived city council meeting video review by The Pomonan, the council voted 3–4 on October 20 to reject the ordinance. Official minutes have not yet been released by the City Clerk.
Mayor Tim Sandoval, along with council members Victor Preciado and Nora Garcia, voted yes.
Debra Martin, Elizabeth Ontiveros-Cole, Steve Lustro, and Lorraine Canales voted no, blocking the ordinance.
The measure would have given renters long-term stability in a city where nearly half of all households rent. Instead, Pomona remains under the temporary protections first passed in 2022.
Sandoval says he plans to bring the ordinance back, without the rental-registry component. Not out of appeasement, but because he’s searching for a version that can survive a council split between homeowners and the renters they represent. But good intentions don’t outvote a class majority.
In past debates, opponents called rent control ‘too costly’ and ‘too bureaucratic,’ pointing to the $82,000 cost of the city’s rental-registry software. There was no discussion this time, just a quiet, digital vote that said enough.
This wasn’t about software. It was about priorities.
All four “no” votes came from those who have other property or lean in the favor of landlords.
This is class alignment.
Debra Martin is part of Pomona’s old guard, a returning councilmember whose politics protect property values over people. Public reporting indicates she owns property in Pomona.
Steve Lustro, a longtime city planner, speaks in procedure, but votes to keep things as they are.
Elizabeth Ontiveros-Cole often frames herself as an advocate for small landlords, repeating the same government overreach lines that have echoed through city politics for decades.
Lorraine Canales, newer to the council, leans conservative and votes like it — protect property, stall change, calls it caution, a pattern visible in her recent votes.
Lets not forget, California’s Proposition 13 already handed home and property owners a permanent tax break while draining public revenue from schools, housing, and city services. Renters have been paying the difference ever since. Monday night was another reminder of how that story plays out locally, how policy, comfort, and silence all work together to keep things exactly as they are.
Pomona doesn’t need another temporary fix.
The city needs honesty and courage, and a new council willing to take risks, not the old guard, or the new guards clinging to old ideas.
Update October 31, 2025
The Pomona City Council is set to revisit rent stabilization on Monday, November 3. The revised ordinance maintains the 5 percent annual rent cap but removes the rental-registry system that would have tracked increases and ensured compliance. It also adds a December 2026 sunset clause, meaning protections will expire unless renewed by future council action.
The new draft also expands landlord exemptions and broadens the definition of “nuisance,” which tenant observers warn could make the law harder to enforce and easier to evade. Critics argue that, without a registry and permanent timeline, the ordinance keeps the cap in name only—leaving renters to police the system themselves.
Read the proposed ordinance and staff presentation:
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