Rent control laws set a ceiling on rents and severely limit or prohibit property owners from raising rents. Rather than improving the availability of affordable housing, rent control laws exacerbate shortages, cause existing buildings to deteriorate and disproportionately benefit higher-income households. Forbes magazine lists as one of the 10 worst economic ideas of the 20th century.
Tag: rent control
Rent control’s negative impacts
The Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics (FCREUE) at UC Berkeley issued a paper intended to lay out the case against re-introducing...
Are market-based rents on their last song?
If voters opt yes on Prop 10, we can say hello to new—and, frankly, aggressive—rent control regs in California. Local municipalities would have the...
One argument for rent control
The Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at UC Berkeley has issued a policy brief intended to lay out the case for...
Proposition 10: It can get worse
Proposition 10 will be on California’s November’s ballot. Its passage would mean repealing the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Act, a state law that severely restricts rent...
Taking sides on California’s rent control initiative
With two months to go before the general election, forces are lining up for and against California’s Proposition 10, which would greatly expand local...
Essex spends big to defeat rent control measure
Essex generates 84 percent of its net operating income in California, far more than any other large apartment REIT. That explains why Essex has...
New research on rent control confirms negative economic, social impacts
Rent control policies are laws that cap rents and are usually implemented with the stated purpose of improving housing affordability. In fact, they may...
SALT, sanctuary and rent control, oh my
Fast five facts on the state of California California has the nation’s highest income tax rates, topping out at 13.3 percent of taxable income (SALT=state...
Affordable housing dies a slow death in California
The activists are restless in California. This past week The Wall Street Journal broke the news that the required threshold of signatures has been achieved...
The push for rent control
In November 2018, election ballots in California might include a question on rent control. Right now, California law restricts the spread of rent regulations...
Private vs. public property rights
Controlling housing rental rates is a classic example of the erosion of private property rights. Traditional rent controls specify a maximum rent that property...
Rent control raises housing costs
A new paper analyzes the effects of rent control expansion in the city and finds that it reduced rental housing supply, causing a city...
As rent skyrockets, more cities look to cap it
In Seattle, where activists say some renters complain their rent has increased by as much as 150 percent, two city council members hosted a...
Rent-controlled residents not markedly different
“Rent-stabilized tenants are paying more than 30 percent of the incomes on rent,” said Harvey Epstein, a tenant member of the city’s rent-setting Rent...
Crunch time
The state laws regulating rent and co-op conversions expire in June 2015. Republicans in the Senate have long resisted efforts by Democrats and tenant...
