[zootam]

People can import clothes from just about anywhere, and there is plenty of clothing for everyone (maybe not distributed evenly but enough exists)

Space and time are the constraints that drive housing prices. Building denser housing is expensive and hard, much more difficult than sourcing and importing clothing in today's world.

Localized markets can require localized policies, because applying the same rules evenly to all markets wouldn't make sense, abstaining from creating local rules can make things worse, but creating them can also create new problems.

I think rent control can be healthy as a small buffer. I think fundamentally these are 'microscopic' policy bandaids to larger macrosopic problems. Unfortunately, it takes a very powerful organization with the right incentives to solve the macroscopic problems.

[pzone]

While it is true that land is a finite resource which makes it a unique sort of asset, this is a separate issue than what GP raised. In fact, the point you raise goes in the opposite direction - it makes rent control far worse and more damaging!

Locking in pre-existing claims to land - through renters being allowed to stay in units as long as they wish at cheap prices, and enacting restrictive/NIMBY zoning laws - serves to constrict the housing supply. Because land is already a finite resource, any restriction on how many housing units per parcel of land end up being built is an even more harmful policy.