Rent control doesn't reduce the quantity of housing when redevelopment, especially denser redevelopment, is essentially illegal due to zoning laws and a lack of

Rent control doesn't reduce the quantity of housing when redevelopment, especially denser redevelopment, is essentially illegal due to zoning laws and a lack of by-right development. It might reduce the aggregate quality, but that's a moot question for those who couldn't afford a higher-quality unit. When the number of housing units is essentially fixed, rent control instead redistributes the profit from rental unit price increases from the property owner to the renter. And in a renter-heavy city, renters prefer lower-quality units they can afford to higher-quality units they can't.