Despite pleas by San Diego City Councilman George Stevens to regulate rent hikes to ease the crisis caused by the city's shortage of affordable housing, the council's Land Use and Housing Committee voted 3-2 against a proposal to draft a rent control ordinance, which would have limited rent hikes to no more than one a year and tie any increases to the consumer price index.

A committee majority sided with apartment owners and managers, who argued that any form of rent control would inhibit construction of future rental housing. Two weeks ago, the same committee recommended that the council declare a housing emergency.

It also recommended an ordinance mandating that developers either pay a fee or set aside 10% of homes they build for low-and moderate-income families. The council will not consider that measure until at least June or possibly later.