Apartment Rent Freeze Extended by Moorpark

The Moorpark City Council Wednesday night voted 5-0 to extend a moratorium on apartment rent increases.

The moratorium has been in effect since last fall. It was passed after the city’s only apartment project, with 47 units, was removed from a Federal Housing Administration program that had subsidized rents and held them at fixed levels.

The project was withdrawn from the FHA program by a new owner. Tenants, fearing a rent increase, sought protection from the City Council.

The City Council Wednesday night also directed its staff to draft a city rent control ordinance, to be discussed by the council when the moratorium expires.