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'Renters Are Struggling': Economists Back Tenant-Led Push for Federal Rent Control
(www.commondreams.org)
this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2023
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Rent control doesn't fix the problem of inequitable ownership of housing or the bad incentives that prevent the building of more housing or the lack of support for public housing. Rent control is a bad bandaid
It helps remove the incentive to buy up all of the single family homes. The calculus is pretty simple -
Renting a home shouldn't cost enough for that cycle to be self sustaining.
I work in municipal development.
100% of the single-family home projects that have been proposed in my area for the last year have been rental-only communities.
Like - they don't even want to give the houses individual water meters. They want to hook them all together, which means they can't even be converted down the line to something else without digging up all the damn infrastructure.
I've visited some friends in those rental only neighborhoods. The lawns are all trashed. The neighborhood was less than three years old but it was already sliding toward a slum because of the clear lack of ownership by the occupants.
Honestly I can't believe that part of the rent didn't go toward neighborhood wide lawn care.
I don't think it actually fixes that. Rent control numbers are in the hands of politicians who may just act as toadies for landlords. Maybe they'll control rent on the higher side some but ultimately they have an incentive to keep that cash flowing.
The only way rent covers mortgage is if a double rental unit.
Having money gets you no PMI and better interest rates. It's cheaper for someone well funded to buy a house than someone who isn't. I'm not saying that it's a slam dunk rent is covered, but it can be a lot closer than you'd expect.
It's not without risk though. The renters could damage the house. There will be broken appliances and roof replacements. You still have property taxes and maybe HOA fees.
Even if it's half a house for free, that's a pretty strong addition to your wealth management.