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I’ve seen rent control utterly destroy people who end up “not being able to move” once their rent becomes severely under-market. It seems to freeze them in time

by trevyn 8y ago

I’ve seen rent control utterly destroy people who end up “not being able to move” once their rent becomes severely under-market. It seems to freeze them in time, and they tie their identity to their apartments, removing any ability to grow as a person. This quote from the article nearly makes me cry: “I'm not worthy of these repairs and these improvements.”

asdfasgasdgasdg 8y ago
Hrm, I dunno. It seems like a pretty good deal for the person whose rent is controlled. I can hardly imagine that they'd (on average) be better off if they were forced to move elsewhere, or forced to pay more. It seems like what you might be observing is a correlated effect. That is, people who are so dependent on rent control must have a certain amount of fragility in their financial situation. Older people in financially tenuous positions are understandably reluctant to venture forth and take risks, both because we become less neuroplastic as we get older in general, and because poverty is not conducive to risk-taking. Now, whether rent control is good for society as a whole, I think that's a very different question with quite the opposite answer.
- mruts 8y ago
  I think that rent control can make you paralyzed. Unable/unwilling to pursue new and potentially better opportunities in new places. Having a rent controlled place makes it significantly less likely that you will take a job in another place, even if it's paying you more. It's the classic case of economic myopia. Maybe that new job would put you on a career path to be a millionaire in 10 years, but you can't see anything except how you would be losing money (by giving up your rent controlled apartment) in the short-term.
  - cimmanom 8y ago
    On the other hand, rent control can make it possible for people to afford to live in areas of high opportunity when they otherwise might not. I for one have stayed in one of the highest paying and costliest metro areas in the world in part because I found a great low rent (not controlled) apartment. Moving elsewhere would cost less but also mean moving to a much less dynamic job and startup market.
  - cma 8y ago
    So then if we did some kind of reverse of rent control, a tax on participating in the same community too long, we'd see radical benefits
    - mruts 8y ago
      That would disincentive investments and property ownership.
  - nadezhda18 8y ago
    > Unable/unwilling to pursue new and potentially better opportunities in new places It so really depends on the actual people. The ones who really want to pursue new opportunities seldom look at the favorable rent in my opinion.
m_fayer 8y ago
"Utterly destroy" is a little over the top, but I get your drift. I don't pay much more for my flat now than I did when I first rented it here in Berlin over a decade ago, and I never will because of rent controls. I should move. I'm getting too old for the current flat sharing setup. My street has become too popular and noisy and annoying. The building is in bad shape. To stay in my neighborhood, which I love, my rent would double, at least. I could afford it. But every time I consider it, I ask myself if I'm really that annoyed. I decide I'm not, and then I feel queasily guilty about paying a miniscule rent while newcomers suffer, and then complaining about my suboptimal living situation. I'm not proud, and it's a strange situation to be in.

by trevyn 8y ago

asdfasgasdgasdg 8y ago

Hrm, I dunno. It seems like a pretty good deal for the person whose rent is controlled. I can hardly imagine that they'd (on average) be better off if they were forced to move elsewhere, or forced to pay more. It seems like what you might be observing is a correlated effect. That is, people who are so dependent on rent control must have a certain amount of fragility in their financial situation. Older people in financially tenuous positions are understandably reluctant to venture forth and take risks, both because we become less neuroplastic as we get older in general, and because poverty is not conducive to risk-taking. Now, whether rent control is good for society as a whole, I think that's a very different question with quite the opposite answer.

mruts 8y ago
I think that rent control can make you paralyzed. Unable/unwilling to pursue new and potentially better opportunities in new places. Having a rent controlled place makes it significantly less likely that you will take a job in another place, even if it's paying you more. It's the classic case of economic myopia. Maybe that new job would put you on a career path to be a millionaire in 10 years, but you can't see anything except how you would be losing money (by giving up your rent controlled apartment) in the short-term.
- cimmanom 8y ago
  On the other hand, rent control can make it possible for people to afford to live in areas of high opportunity when they otherwise might not. I for one have stayed in one of the highest paying and costliest metro areas in the world in part because I found a great low rent (not controlled) apartment. Moving elsewhere would cost less but also mean moving to a much less dynamic job and startup market.
- cma 8y ago
  So then if we did some kind of reverse of rent control, a tax on participating in the same community too long, we'd see radical benefits
  - mruts 8y ago
    That would disincentive investments and property ownership.
- nadezhda18 8y ago
  > Unable/unwilling to pursue new and potentially better opportunities in new places It so really depends on the actual people. The ones who really want to pursue new opportunities seldom look at the favorable rent in my opinion.

m_fayer 8y ago

"Utterly destroy" is a little over the top, but I get your drift. I don't pay much more for my flat now than I did when I first rented it here in Berlin over a decade ago, and I never will because of rent controls. I should move. I'm getting too old for the current flat sharing setup. My street has become too popular and noisy and annoying. The building is in bad shape. To stay in my neighborhood, which I love, my rent would double, at least. I could afford it. But every time I consider it, I ask myself if I'm really that annoyed. I decide I'm not, and then I feel queasily guilty about paying a miniscule rent while newcomers suffer, and then complaining about my suboptimal living situation. I'm not proud, and it's a strange situation to be in.