A recent commentary published in the Hill by Sharon Wilson Géno (president of the National Multifamily Housing Council) says national rent control will make the housing crisis worse. She says the current housing crisis is the result of decades of broken public policy and repeated unwillingness to invest needed government resources in housing. The article highlights some great points about the destructive nature of government imposed rent control policies. Below are some excerpts:
“Our current housing crisis is the result of decades of broken policy and repeated unwillingness to invest needed government resources in housing. The pandemic then drove the cost of housing way up due in large part to dramatic increases in uncontrollable costs, such as insurance and state and local taxes.”
“…Rent control allows politicians to shirk their responsibility by shifting the cost of providing needed housing opportunities to apartment owners for immediate political gain. This hurts current renters and those that cannot even access the rental housing market.”
“…rent control is wildly inequitable. It gives the well-off the same access to rent-controlled apartments as lower-income families who need assistance most. It incentivizes every renter, no matter their income or wealth, to stay in their apartment much longer than they otherwise would.”
Click here to read the full essay at the Hill.com.
