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It’s nice that you’re benefiting, but rent control is relatively well studied and it doesn’t achieve its aims. https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explai

by wilde 9y ago

It’s nice that you’re benefiting, but rent control is relatively well studied and it doesn’t achieve its aims. https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/08/economist-explains-19 https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/08/e...

untog 9y ago
You're ignoring the OPs point. Rent controlled apartments are a rounding error in the grand scheme of making NYC apartments affordable. It's also been around for a very long time, so its effects are well known. As the article outlines, Airbnb is something new.
- ordinaryperson 9y ago
  Rent controlled and rent stabilized two very different things but both decrease housing inventory. According to this there are 1 million rent stabilized (not controlled) units in NYC: https://ny.curbed.com/2017/4/13/15264890/nyc-apartments-guide-tips-new-york https://ny.curbed.com/2017/4/13/15264890/nyc-apartments-guid... If that's accurate, it's a little bit more than a rounding error. Ultimately there has to be a balance. Throwing out long-time renters isn't a great idea but nor is capping prices to decrease inventory. Personally I favor construction reform -- I mean, look how expensive that 1 mile of the 2nd Ave subway was. It shouldn't be that expensive to build in NYC.
  - camgunz 9y ago
    To expound a little; from the actual data source linked in that article: > According to the 2014 NYC Housing and Vacancy Survey, there are about 27,000 rent controlled apartments vs. about 1,030,000 rent stabilized apartments. Like you say, rent control is very different than rent stabilization. Rent control limits the actual rent. Rent stabilization limits the annual rent increase. Rent stabilization doesn't really account for extra stickiness in the housing market (in other words, it doesn't meaningfully decrease housing supply). Rent control does but again, since there are so few of those it's basically a non-factor.
- spikels 9y ago
  6,200 units on Airbnb in city of 3.4 million homes. Airbnb is also rounding error. If you are concerned about affordability, the focus should be almost entirely on barriers to housing development.
  - busterarm 9y ago
    Huh? There's over 30,000 AirBNB listings in NYC.
busterarm 9y ago
Really? Because rent control certainly myself and everyone I knew in a similar situation with a chance at class mobility. Rent control allowed my mom to stop being a cab driver and go to nursing school. Rent control facilitated me getting a really great education and career. I grew up needing food stamps, handmedown clothes and even shoes. How can you, with a straight face, tell me that bullshit?
- knuththetruth 9y ago
  Because to the kind of people who leap to the defense of businesses like Airbnb and slag off rent control, this is just an abstraction. They don’t know or care about the poor people who these policies helped, and think they’ll find some measure of safety by aligning themselves with the Capital class. They won’t in the long run, but that’s where we are now.
  - jadedhacker 9y ago
    It's a really good rhetorical trick they pull. "The Market" is making things more expensive because you pulled something off the market! Supply and demand buddy! Of course, if pulling some units off the market is good, why not pulling all of them off? The insane speculation has to stop, it literally destroyed the economy in 2008.
- true_religion 9y ago
  The alternative to rent control is subsidized housing. Is that a bad thing?
  - ac29 9y ago
    Or people only living where they can afford to. Lots of people might like to live in New York, London, or Sydney (just a few examples). The big problem with housing subsidies is, who gets them? You cant just give them to everyone, or the price of housing will quickly correct to balance supply with the artificially increased demand.
- Quinner 9y ago
busterarm 9y ago
One of the unmentioned goals of rent control at the time was to stop the mass exodus of people out of New York starting at the tail end of the 60s. I live not far from The Deuce and my neighborhood was plagued with drug use, prostitution, muggings and homelessness. We stayed in our apartments in an extremely dangerous city while hordes of people left. My landlord wouldn't have her building still if not for rent regulation.

by wilde 9y ago

untog 9y ago

You're ignoring the OPs point. Rent controlled apartments are a rounding error in the grand scheme of making NYC apartments affordable. It's also been around for a very long time, so its effects are well known. As the article outlines, Airbnb is something new.

ordinaryperson 9y ago
Rent controlled and rent stabilized two very different things but both decrease housing inventory. According to this there are 1 million rent stabilized (not controlled) units in NYC: https://ny.curbed.com/2017/4/13/15264890/nyc-apartments-guide-tips-new-york https://ny.curbed.com/2017/4/13/15264890/nyc-apartments-guid... If that's accurate, it's a little bit more than a rounding error. Ultimately there has to be a balance. Throwing out long-time renters isn't a great idea but nor is capping prices to decrease inventory. Personally I favor construction reform -- I mean, look how expensive that 1 mile of the 2nd Ave subway was. It shouldn't be that expensive to build in NYC.
- camgunz 9y ago
  To expound a little; from the actual data source linked in that article: > According to the 2014 NYC Housing and Vacancy Survey, there are about 27,000 rent controlled apartments vs. about 1,030,000 rent stabilized apartments. Like you say, rent control is very different than rent stabilization. Rent control limits the actual rent. Rent stabilization limits the annual rent increase. Rent stabilization doesn't really account for extra stickiness in the housing market (in other words, it doesn't meaningfully decrease housing supply). Rent control does but again, since there are so few of those it's basically a non-factor.
spikels 9y ago
6,200 units on Airbnb in city of 3.4 million homes. Airbnb is also rounding error. If you are concerned about affordability, the focus should be almost entirely on barriers to housing development.
- busterarm 9y ago
  Huh? There's over 30,000 AirBNB listings in NYC.

busterarm 9y ago

Really? Because rent control certainly myself and everyone I knew in a similar situation with a chance at class mobility. Rent control allowed my mom to stop being a cab driver and go to nursing school. Rent control facilitated me getting a really great education and career. I grew up needing food stamps, handmedown clothes and even shoes. How can you, with a straight face, tell me that bullshit?

knuththetruth 9y ago
Because to the kind of people who leap to the defense of businesses like Airbnb and slag off rent control, this is just an abstraction. They don’t know or care about the poor people who these policies helped, and think they’ll find some measure of safety by aligning themselves with the Capital class. They won’t in the long run, but that’s where we are now.
- jadedhacker 9y ago
  It's a really good rhetorical trick they pull. "The Market" is making things more expensive because you pulled something off the market! Supply and demand buddy! Of course, if pulling some units off the market is good, why not pulling all of them off? The insane speculation has to stop, it literally destroyed the economy in 2008.
true_religion 9y ago
The alternative to rent control is subsidized housing. Is that a bad thing?
- ac29 9y ago
  Or people only living where they can afford to. Lots of people might like to live in New York, London, or Sydney (just a few examples). The big problem with housing subsidies is, who gets them? You cant just give them to everyone, or the price of housing will quickly correct to balance supply with the artificially increased demand.
Quinner 9y ago

busterarm 9y ago

One of the unmentioned goals of rent control at the time was to stop the mass exodus of people out of New York starting at the tail end of the 60s. I live not far from The Deuce and my neighborhood was plagued with drug use, prostitution, muggings and homelessness. We stayed in our apartments in an extremely dangerous city while hordes of people left. My landlord wouldn't have her building still if not for rent regulation.