2 ms·
They can only raise rents as high as they are because there is so little supply of housing. This is a result of car centric city planning and vast swaths of R1
by foxyv 4y ago
They can only raise rents as high as they are because there is so little supply of housing. This is a result of car centric city planning and vast swaths of R1 zoning. With enough mixed zoning and an end to R1 we could cut the rents by huge amounts through sheer supply of housing.
However, what this means is that housing prices in suburban neighborhoods would drop like a rock, bankrupting the most powerful voting block and richest campaign donors for local and state elections. Such actions would be political suicide in most cities.
So it's not just the landlords squeezing renters, but the property owners who want to enshrine their property values as a right, above and beyond the rights of others to housing.
- Sohcahtoa82 4y agoAgreed. The way I see it, rent controls are a punishment to the landlords for fighting against the construction of additional housing. Real estate investment is a cancer. It creates such horrible perverse incentives that prevents a large chunk of the population from every being able to own the place they live. They'll be paying rent their entire lives. And before someone accuses me of just being a sour renter, no, I own my home. I paid $338K for it in 2015, and it's now estimated to be worth $650K, and I think that's just stupid and bonkers. Many homeowners would probably cheer about that, but all I think about is how expensive all the homes in my neighborhood have gotten. If I was still working the same job I was in 2015, and my salary had merely kept up with inflation, I wouldn't be able to afford the house I'm in now at today's price, and that's just ludicrous to me.