The irony is that what precipitated (AFAIU) Prop 13 was an informal practice by many tax offices to systematically underassess the homes of seniors. This lead to perceptions of unfair and capricious assessments by the public. All the noise probably made seniors feel even more insecure. But in any event by the time Prop 13 passed the issue had evolved from one of protecting seniors to general fear and insecurity[1] of homeowners, which is why the solution was so extreme.

[1] No doubt fanned by the usual anti-government, anti-civic rabble rousers that would eventually come to completely dominate politics.