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I know it's counterintuitive to most people, but price controls only cause shortages. Rent control is fundamentally an unfair policy as it selectively benefits

• s73v3r_ 8y ago
  "It's ok if you need to leave your apartment so long as you can find another apartment nearby. No one has a right to live in a particular city, and scarce resources will go to those most willing to pay for them." I've always found this to be a shitty argument, because in the vast majority of cases, the person making it isn't someone who's being told they don't deserve to live where they grew up, and isn't someone who would end up being someone who gets priced out of their home. I'll say it again: If you remove rent control without having more housing being built already, the people who have been living there since before the tech boom will have their rents raised astronomically, to the point where they will become homeless. That is absolutely wrong, and telling them to just leave town is even more wrong.
  • pg_bot 8y ago
    The counterfactual to your argument is just as appalling, "You don't deserve to live here because you aren't from here". You had to be born somewhere, and some of us had the misfortune of being born in a place where they no longer want to stay. "If you remove rent control without having more housing being built already, the people who have been living there since before the tech boom will have their rents raised astronomically, to the point where they will become homeless" There is no empirical evidence to support this position. This is one of the few points that the economic profession has come to a consensus on. Rent control creates far more problems than it solves. Both people can live in the city if the market functions properly. The supply of housing exists, you are just choosing to not utilize it effectively by enacting rent control. I know I am unlikely to change your mind based on the facts that I have presented. I don't want to belittle or ridicule you. I sincerely believe that you want to do what is right for the public at large. If this is indeed the case, I hope you can do some more reading on the subject and will believe that you come to the same conclusion that many others have. I am not denying that some people will be negatively impacted, but if you look at the net impact you will see that more people will benefit regardless of their income level by the repeal of rent control.
    • s73v3r_ 8y ago
      "The counterfactual to your argument is just as appalling, "You don't deserve to live here because you aren't from here". You had to be born somewhere, and some of us had the misfortune of being born in a place where they no longer want to stay." That is not the counterfactual to my argument. And while I do have sympathy for those who do need to leave, SF's history as a destination for marginalized members of society due to their sexuality, I also have sympathy for those who are already there, and do wish to continue living where they have roots. Repealing rent control when there is not surplus housing does nothing but raise rents, because the housing that people claim will be built if there is no rent control will not appear overnight. "There is no empirical evidence to support this position." You have the fact that rents in SV are already insane. Landlords are wanting to raise rents even further, otherwise they would not be wanting the repeal of rent control. "ut if you look at the net impact you will see that more people will benefit regardless of their income level by the repeal of rent control" Only if the additional housing is there. Otherwise they will be forced to leave. Rents will rise, which you cannot deny, and it is quite likely that many of those already there will not be able to afford it. Building housing is slow, and you are asking those most vulnerable to bear the brunt of the damage.