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There must be better ways to accomplish this that don’t result in valuable apartments sitting empty.

• eecc 8y ago
  Valuable? To whom, and for what reasons?
  • mikeash 8y ago
    Valuable to people who want a place to live. The reason is that people need shelter.
    • coldtea 8y ago
      People also need their shelter to be cheap once they've found it, and rent control allows for that. Without rent control you just have the market force people into musical chairs for highest bidders, for the benefits of the landlords.
      • mikeash 8y ago
        And we’re back to my original comment: there must be a better way to accomplish this.
        • njepa 8y ago
          If we conclude that people should have affordable and predictable rent it is hard to make rent control the problem. While not adjusting rent for inflation and upkeep seems counterproductive, someone occupying an apartment at a low margin is only really a problem if we can't produce more apartments, or more opportunities, at the same price. The housing market cannot increase forever. You either end up with massive inflation or massive inequality. The few good ideas seem to essentially be to treat housing as infrastructure. Of course building infrastructure is a problem in itself for many countries.
          • AnimalMuppet 8y ago
            Who should have affordable and predictable rent? Everybody? We're not getting that from rent control, because it only applies to a subset. Those who need it? We're not getting that from rent control, either, because many people suffer from high rent who don't have a rent-controlled apartment. Some of this may be due to those who don't need it getting it, but I suspect the numbers of such cases aren't enough to account for all those who need it who don't get it. > someone occupying an apartment at a low margin is only really a problem if we can't produce more apartments, or more opportunities, at the same price. That's exactly the problem with rent control. Let's say that there are a shortage of apartments for $100/month in NYC. Who is going to try to build more apartments in NYC for $100/month? Anybody who tries is going to lose their shirt. We can't produce them at that price. Rent control doesn't make that problem go away.
            • njepa 8y ago
              > We can't produce them at that price. $100 per month isn't realistic, $500 might be. While construction costs do rise, you are mostly paying for the exclusivity. "High-rise apartment buildings cost an average $302 per square foot." https://therealdeal.com/2018/05/15/surprise-nyc-remains-most-expensive-place-to-build-in-the-world-report/ https://therealdeal.com/2018/05/15/surprise-nyc-remains-most...
              • AnimalMuppet 8y ago
                So, $151,000 per 600-square-foot apartment. If the loan for the building costs was at 5%, the interest cost is $7500 a year, or $629/month. That's not counting paying back principle, or maintenance. You might be able to do it for $800/month, though.
  • deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
• door5 8y ago
  True -- vastly expanding public housing, with the goal of eventually eliminating private housing. Housing should be a public good, not a commodity. Until then, rent control is a good way of minimizing the extent to which landlords exploit their tenants.
  • alexis_fr 8y ago
    Food should be public good, then.
    • door5 8y ago
      Also true.
  • tehjoker 8y ago
    https://www.mintpressnews.com/empty-homes-outnumber-the-homeless-6-to-1-so-why-not-give-them-homes/207194/ https://www.mintpressnews.com/empty-homes-outnumber-the-home...
  • pariahHN 8y ago
    The fundamentals of life in general should trend towards not being commodities - it should get easier over time for people to do things themselves, instead of there being more things someone has to pay for.
• Spooky23 8y ago
  Pretty easy. Just tax the difference between market rate and actual rate, and apply a means test to it. The mostly mythical Rich folk collecting cheap apartments will go away quickly.
  • etrautmann 8y ago
    Doesn’t this directly defeat the rent control?
    • Spooky23 8y ago
      No, just phase it in at some income level. We tax normal people on a similar basis — if you settle a debt, you’ll get a 1099 for whatever was written off and must pay tax unless you are insolvent.