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Rent control is government setting the price on a good. I've always thought that price is metadata about a good or a service. Changing the price doesn't chang

Rent control is government setting the price on a good. I've always thought that price is metadata about a good or a service. Changing the price doesn't change that reality - it just hides it. If the rent is too high why not just give people money and let them spend it on rent? That's probably idiotic but it makes more sense to me then telling the people renting out units that they have to charge a certain amount. At least in this case you still have a price signal - though if you toss money like it's nothing at a problem you tend to get inflation especially if you give people money and tell them they have to spend it on a single good. A better fix is to increase the supply of housing and to the extent it's possible lower the fixed costs for building. If there's more of it the price will go down. I understand the argument that says "If we let them build more they'll only build for rich people" Sure. My answer to that is let them build more. It will take time but eventually the supply of units for non rich people will increase and when it does the price will go down. That's all easy to say but I doubt any of that will happen.

aeternus 8y ago
>If the rent is too high why not just give people money and let them spend it on rent? This doesn't work because the money will go straight to landlords. Rent prices simply increase across the board. There's even an argument that indirect improvements, like building parks and improving infrastructure, generally does not benefit renters since it drives rental prices up. Landlords reap the majority of the benefit. Building more would definitely help, but that is directly against the interest of existing landlords. They will fight it hard since it will generally erode their views and decrease their property value. We really need a solution that incentivizes higher density where there is high demand.

aeternus 8y ago

>If the rent is too high why not just give people money and let them spend it on rent? This doesn't work because the money will go straight to landlords. Rent prices simply increase across the board. There's even an argument that indirect improvements, like building parks and improving infrastructure, generally does not benefit renters since it drives rental prices up. Landlords reap the majority of the benefit. Building more would definitely help, but that is directly against the interest of existing landlords. They will fight it hard since it will generally erode their views and decrease their property value. We really need a solution that incentivizes higher density where there is high demand.