[em-bee]

how does rent control lock people in? only if moving is not possible without raising rent. effective rent control is about preventing excessive rent, not about preventing the raise of rent to existing tenants.

as far as i can tell, the effect of rent control in germany is mostly that similar properties cost a similar rent which does not prevent people from moving, because they are not risking an increase just because of the move.

[ChuckNorris89]

It prevents people outside of the rent control area from moving into it because they'll have to pay prices way way higher.

Just look at Berlin. Try moving there now and see what options are available to you.

[em-bee]

how would additional supply fix that? there is no space in the city to build more. additional supply would happen at the edges, where most people do not want to move until the area is sufficiently developed, and there are local jobs too.

a more desirable area will always be more expensive. rent control allows to keep that in check, no control will mean that even if there is enough supply elsewhere, those more desirable areas will remain expensive. rent control is needed to prevent gentrification too.

[unmole]

> there is no space in the city to build more.

Berlin has a population density that's less than 20% of Paris. Tell me more about how there's no space to build.

[chociej]

Infill development comes with its own challenges. A coordinated effort to increased density in a city would necessarily be disruptive to a lot of people's housing. That's not to say it shouldn't be done, but it complicates the matter if you care about displacement, right-to-return, etc.

[ChuckNorris89]

Some people buy into the propaganda.

[ChuckNorris89]

>there is no space in the city to build more

That's what all NIMBYs parrot. Berlin population only grew by ~250k people ... since 1990, and back then Berlin was basically depopulated. It's also one of the least dense capitals in Europe today, Berlin is not Amsterdam to not have any space.

Saying "there's no more space" doesn't pass the smell test. There's more than enough space but there's too much real estate speculation going on to jack up the prices because certain interest groups need to make money from it.

>most people do not want to move until the area is sufficiently developed, and there are local jobs too

Once that area is sufficiently developed it's too late to move because you'll already be priced out. If you want to live somewhere you need to move thee before it becomes "cool" and "hip".

[em-bee]

Berlin population only grew by ~250k people ... since 1990, and back then Berlin was basically depopulated

ok, fair point. so berlin does have other options. but the rent problem is not only in berlin, and other cities don't have that space. and nevertheless i stand by the claim that even if more rental units are going to be built in that space, rent prices will not go down without any additional effort.

a good example of doing it better is vienna. somewhat similar to berlin, population was shrinking until the turn of the century. down to 1.5 million. then suddenly in the last 20 years it grew back to 2 million. faster than berlin. vienna government itself is building new housing (a program that started 100 years ago). and infrastructure with jobs to go with it. 25% of people in vienna live in government owned and subsidized housing. (apparently berlin has something similar, but it is privately owned with a government mandate)

Once that area is sufficiently developed

ignoring the option to work remote, if an area doesn't have jobs close enough to easily reach by public transport i am not going to move there, no matter how attractive the rent.