Rent control disincentivizes construction of new housing, by adding a major regulatory risk to investment in new housing units. First, imagine that you are the

Rent control disincentivizes construction of new housing, by adding a major regulatory risk to investment in new housing units. First, imagine that you are the owner of a rental building, and the rent control law passes, in let's say SF. You own the building, and as the landlord, you're obligated to pay for things like repairs and general property management. That takes labor. The price of labor (i.e. wages) tends to increase more or less in step with property values. So, now your costs are increasing, but it's illegal for you to raise your rents. The investment you made, with the presumption that you would be able to charge a market rate for rents is now fucked. Now, consider that you are a prospective property developer. Someone thinking about building a new rental building. You're thinking about investing millions of dollars of your own money to do this. But you look at what happened to the last guy, who got fucked by this rent control law, and you think "maybe i'll build elsewhere, or just stick my money in an index fund instead".