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We're discussing San Francisco, where rent control policy works primarily by capping the yearly increases. It's always lower than inflation, too. Shrinking uni
by Kalium 5y ago
We're discussing San Francisco, where rent control policy works primarily by capping the yearly increases. It's always lower than inflation, too.
Shrinking units is an great thought! That's such a plausible mechanism that SF has gone ahead and done the thing its politics centers on - making building that form of housing difficult too. Parking minimums, density restrictions, and so on all affect the wonderful idea that is micro-apartments. And attempts to cut costs with pre-fab units assembled off-site ran directly into political conflicts as well.
It's impossible to read about the politics of housing in SF without arriving at the understanding that SF just really doesn't want to allow any new housing.
- HWR_14 5y agoI don't actually think shrinking units is good in general - I just tried to explain how more strict rent controls could result in more units. I think it's perfectly fine for SF to say "we want a bunch of single occupancy housing, not high rises". Certainly, that's not great for everyone who wants to move there, but it's perfectly fine for a city to decide they don't want to grow anymore. And putting minimum restrictions with regard to density and parking is a great idea. If you aren't going to invest in public transit, you need people to have parking spaces. If you want to live in uber-packed urban areas, you can move to NYC instead. There are a lot of options!
- Kalium 5y agoI think it's fine, so long as people are willing to accept the sky-high cost of living that comes with their policy choices.
- HWR_14 5y agoWould the cost of living go up with rent control? It seems like people who already live there have controlled costs.
- Kalium 5y agoBear in mind that we're not talking about a counter-factual. SF has rent control today for most of its rental stock. As you correctly say, people in rent controlled units have controlled housing cost increases year to year. They do not have controlled costs if they need to move. They do not have controlled costs for food or transportation or any other aspect of their cost of living. To the extent that rent control drives up market rents as population increases, it definitely helps increase cost of living. To the extent that the politics around rent control help deter new housing supply it helps drive up the cost of living that way too. The effects of rent control on the market - and on the people blessed by rent control - are both well-understood. San Francisco has made a series of policy choices that result in very high cost of living. There's nothing wrong these choices so long as people are willing to accept the results.