3 ms·

And what about everyone else? That is an extremely selfish view. Rent control stifles new construction, and allows you to live in relative luxury at the expens

And what about everyone else? That is an extremely selfish view. Rent control stifles new construction, and allows you to live in relative luxury at the expense of others. Let me ask you, if rent control is the solution to high rent, why not introduce legislation to cut all current rent rates in half?

Aloisius 12y ago
> Rent control stifles new construction Rent control in San Francisco only applies to buildings built before June 1979. Landlords of buildings built after that are free to increase rent as they wish. If anything, it should promote more construction.
- nedwin 12y ago
  Unfortunately tenant unions and some politicians have been threatening to expand the definition of rent control for quite some time. This increases the risk that buildings built after that period are going to get locked down into rent control after the fact.
  - simoncion 12y ago
    Do you believe that that's a contributing factor to the lack of new construction in San Francisco? If so, is it a larger factor than the insane city-wide height restrictions and strong anti-development lobby? (If you'd like to point a finger at the folks who obstruct demolition of rent-controlled units to construct new units, I point you to this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9210429 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9210429 ) :)
    - nedwin 12y ago
      It's definitely a factor in new construction in San Francisco. I wouldn't say it's a larger factor than the anti-development lobby but I think the anti-development lobby and the rent control lobby are closely aligned. Height restrictions are another factor, as is the requirements around affordable housing.
simoncion 12y ago
> Rent control stifles new construction... San Francisco's Sangiacomo ("AKA 'The Father of Rent Control'") and his tenants came up with a really great solution for this: 1) Buy a rent-controlled building. 1a) If there's no room for the first phase of your building plan, destroy some of it it and displace the affected tenants. 2) Build the first phase of construction as quickly as humanly possible. 3) Move the displaced tenants back in at the rate that they were paying when they were displaced. These tenants also retain their rent control privileges for as long as they stay in that unit. 4) Build the remainder of the building and rent it out at "market rate". This works, and works well, as Trinity Place (1190 Mission) has shown us.

Aloisius 12y ago

> Rent control stifles new construction Rent control in San Francisco only applies to buildings built before June 1979. Landlords of buildings built after that are free to increase rent as they wish. If anything, it should promote more construction.

nedwin 12y ago
Unfortunately tenant unions and some politicians have been threatening to expand the definition of rent control for quite some time. This increases the risk that buildings built after that period are going to get locked down into rent control after the fact.
- simoncion 12y ago
  Do you believe that that's a contributing factor to the lack of new construction in San Francisco? If so, is it a larger factor than the insane city-wide height restrictions and strong anti-development lobby? (If you'd like to point a finger at the folks who obstruct demolition of rent-controlled units to construct new units, I point you to this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9210429 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9210429 ) :)
  - nedwin 12y ago
    It's definitely a factor in new construction in San Francisco. I wouldn't say it's a larger factor than the anti-development lobby but I think the anti-development lobby and the rent control lobby are closely aligned. Height restrictions are another factor, as is the requirements around affordable housing.

simoncion 12y ago

> Rent control stifles new construction... San Francisco's Sangiacomo ("AKA 'The Father of Rent Control'") and his tenants came up with a really great solution for this: 1) Buy a rent-controlled building. 1a) If there's no room for the first phase of your building plan, destroy some of it it and displace the affected tenants. 2) Build the first phase of construction as quickly as humanly possible. 3) Move the displaced tenants back in at the rate that they were paying when they were displaced. These tenants also retain their rent control privileges for as long as they stay in that unit. 4) Build the remainder of the building and rent it out at "market rate". This works, and works well, as Trinity Place (1190 Mission) has shown us.