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by stevenhuang 20 days ago
Rent control is nice for the select few that get it but results in worse overall conditions for renters by distorting market conditions.

It's a stop gap band-aid feel good measure, not an effective long term solution.

More housing supply and densification is the solution.
1 comments
archagon 20 days ago
More housing supply is not a solution to landlords deciding to evict tenants or raise the rent for arbitrary reasons. ("The housing market is great for sellers right now and I want to sell my house." "My niece wants to live in the city." "I don't want tenants with pets/children." etc.) Renters deserve stable housing just as much as homeowners and that requires some degree of regulation.
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stevenhuang 20 days ago
> More housing supply is not a solution to landlords deciding to evict tenants or raise the rent for arbitrary reasons.

Irrelevant. Sensible tenancy laws are important but are unrelated to discussions of housing affordability.

To fix the affordability crisis the long term solution is to address the structural issues caused by imbalanced supply vs demand as result of market distortions.

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archagon 20 days ago
It is directly relevant to the comment I was replying to:

> Landlords do whatever the hell they like with zero consequences. Thats not a game I’d like to play with a 40 year horizon of unknowns.

Rent control (and tenant protections in general) help ensure that this does not happen. My landlord can't raise my rent more than x% a year, so I won't have to leave my apartment just because he's found a richer tenant. I'm quite secure in my housing barring a full-on condo conversion of the entire building with no further renting allowed.

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