this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2023
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Rent control doesn’t address the root of our housing problems: a lack of available high-density housing. NIMBY homeowners have made it illegal to build new apartment complexes and condos via strict zoning laws. They’ve artificially restricted the supply of housing in order to jack up their own property values.
If a town has 80 apartments while 100 families need housing, rent control does nothing for the 20 families who can’t find an apartment when it’s illegal to meaningfully increase the supply of housing.
Housing in Seattle will continue to be fucked until we reform our zoning laws.
While I don’t think anything you are saying is wrong, that doesn’t change the fact that real and strong rent control laws will immediately and substantially improve the lives of many Seattle residences. We need rent control and less draconian zoning laws