"The difference between housing and food is you can eat less, but with housing, at some point you'll be homeless," said Gary Blasi, a public interest lawyer and housing rights expert in Los Angeles. "The market says you can have all the housing you can afford. And if you can't afford any, then you're on the street." California will vote in 2024 on whether to allow statewide rent control after proponents gathered more than 800,000 signatures.