Your thinking is not long-term, it is at best medium-term. You hopefully are convinced by the article that short-term, building housing drops prices. You are

Your thinking is not long-term, it is at best medium-term. You hopefully are convinced by the article that short-term, building housing drops prices. You are correct that for the people who live in a place, rent control affects their lives. But the result of rent control is that when places open up, there is a massive excess of demand. Which results in high prices in the long term. The housing market in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area reflects this. And preserving the quality of life of people who are privileged enough to start in the neighborhood is what is causing the long-term problem of too little housing and rents that are massively too high. With commutes that are beyond insane. Given political realities, the only hope that I have for a long-term change is that thanks to COVID, more companies have realized that they can let everyone telecommute. And after enough people move far away for cheaper housing in prettier places (prices are rising rapidly in rural counties!) the reduced demand will fix prices. But it will take a few years after the pandemic is over before we know if that is a long-term trend or a blip.