Comment by Hammershaft
Comment by Hammershaft 2 days ago
Rent control is not good in theory, it's the most universally hated policy among economists because it has so many horrible unintended effects on housing development and maintenance.
Comment by Hammershaft 2 days ago
Rent control is not good in theory, it's the most universally hated policy among economists because it has so many horrible unintended effects on housing development and maintenance.
Good intentions count for nothing. Good intentions that create bad policy that harms people counts for much less than nothing.
Call it meaningless if you want, but this is a policy that renters getting priced out of their housing markets will eagerly vote for. And prioritizing existing residents over newcomers feels just to me. Focus on making it easier to build new housing instead of getting pissy about the safety net.
Of course, individuals (renters in this case) will vote for a policy that benefits them at the expense of everyone else.
Increasing regulation does the opposite of making it easier to build new housing.
I do agree that current residents should be able to prioritize their own needs, but that rarely results in additional housing stock being built.
That’s because it’s not an economic policy but a humanistic one. Stable housing should be a right. If rent control was the default, then obviously no renter would vote for arbitrary rent increases in exchange for maybe, someday in the future, rent going down due to increased housing supply.