Say NO to Rent Control!

Let’s talk about rent control. Spoiler Alert: I’m not a fan. Rent control has been a controversial housing policy in the United States since its arrival in the 20^th century. The actual practice and implementation of rent control is inefficient, unfair, and counteractive. Yeah I said it!

Proponents argue that rent control is necessary in order to protect tenants from paying unreasonable rents and in order to provide access to decent housing. Wake up people it causes more problems than good! Don’t get me wrong; I’m all about affordable housing. Rent control is NOT the answer to our housing problems. No way Jose!

It's time to break it down. Rent control is economically counterproductive. With rent control in place, landlords struggle to make a reasonable return on their investment. Rent control is unfair for property owners of rent-controlled units. Because rent-controlled housing is not considered profitable, landlords might convert their property into a higher revenue producing development. This action reduces the number of rental housing available to the large population of renters.

Rent control exacerbates the housing shortage problem. Often times, landlords turn rental housing into condominiums or commercial uses. From the property owner’s perspective, it does not make sense to own property that is not profitable.

Furthermore, landlords have little incentive to maintain rent-controlled properties. As a result, housing quality and maintenance in rental housing dramatically declines. It would be foolish for a landlord to spend extra money on building repairs when he or she is not earning a fair profit. In worse cases, housing deterioration occurs. As a result, more and more landlords neglect their rental buildings. Hello, slum housing!

Rent control means no income restriction. Rent control was created to protect low- and moderate- income tenants from extreme rent increases. That’s funny since there is no income check to determine who should benefit from the perks of rent control. In fact, even multimillionaires receive protection under rent control. In other words, an individual earning a mere $20,000 per year could potentially spend the same amount on housing as an individual earning $100,000 per year. In my book, that’s not okay!

 Rent control does not necessarily help low-income people. There is no reason why we should be helping individuals who are more than capable of paying market rate rent. It’s absurd!

Lastly, rent control causes discrimination. Landlords often discriminate against tenants that are likely to stay for long periods of time. Retirees and couples with children receive the brunt of the discrimination. Because landlords can increase rents between vacancies, many landlords evict tenants for any possible reason. Rent control causes displacement as landlords remove tenants in order to raise rents. Does that seem fair to you?

So what I’m saying is rent control is an inefficient and detrimental housing policy! The social and economic cost of rent control completely outweighs any short-term gains that may exist. Rent control does not preserve affordable housing for low- to moderate-income households. Instead, it causes more burdens on the poor.

We should focus our attention on increasing the housing supply and providing low-income individuals with direct financial housing assistance. The government should increase the number of programs that subsidize the development or redevelopment of affordable housing. Rent control is an outdated policy that cannot be justified as a solution to our housing crisis!