Essay on Rent Control

Rent control refers to laws that limit the amounts of rent and the amounts that rent can be increased in any year. There is no statewide rent control in the US, and all the rent control laws and regulation are passed by cities. Most of the cities with rent control are located in New York, California, and New Jersey. Washington, D.C. also has rent control.

Many of the housing uses zoning power delegated by government officials to assure that certain races such as blacks don’t move into their neighborhood. Zoning power is regulating the use of land by state governments and local governments to exercise authority over privately owned real

Those who cannot afford the high prices of housing are often forced out into the streets where they face a very uncertain future due to the number of abuses they encounter daily from all walks of life, with the most damning being the vagrancy laws that come into vogue in areas that are getting gentrified, which many cities have passed to “protect” their newfound assets and tax base from the “lowering” of property values. Furthermore, when cities such as Los Angeles demand that property developers set aside affordable housing for lower income people, they get sued in court, such as in 2009, when real estate developer Geoffrey Palmer successfully sued in order to overturned an ordnance which required that. This was also the same man who also proposed building a footbridge connecting two of his buildings to minimize contact with people he deemed undesirable (Davis).

It causes displacement amongst the poor residences many of them can not afford to pay the high housing cost and rent increases.

Further, Desmond reveals how the American housing market keeps the poor in poverty. When tenants pay 90% of their salary to their landlords, they have no

of rent will not increase as quickly as inflation. While the moral side of rent

As the leasing amount and house rent goes up while there is stagnation in wages and salaries, affording the monthly rent becomes difficult leading to gentrification in the city.

Gentrification is a major reason for the increase in rent prices throughout New York City. Harlem rent prices have gone up over the past years because of new condominiums and businesses that are being built in neighborhoods. The displacement of residents leads to an increase of people becoming homeless in the city. According to the author, Ivan Pereira, “Harlem saw a 9.4 % average rent price increase during that same period from $2,191 last year to $ 2,397 in January” (Pereira 1). The change causes longtime residents to move out because of a variety of factors including unaffordability, pressure from property owners, diminishing or lack of stores that cater to them and many more. The more condominiums and business’s being built makes living

The author focuses on rising housing costs. Here is where myself and the author begin to part. Unlike the author I don’t believe the answer is this simple. Although the rates as he describes are rising faster than any other market or minimum wage. One most always look introspectively at a cause first before looking externally. The problem with blanket statement like: the singular reason is rising costs, is that it holds blameless those who choose not to better themselves. One of the major problems I see in the world is a sense of undeserved entitlement. If you can’t pay rent in downtown of city my solution is to look for housing elsewhere. I have moved across the country from my family for years and now am the closest I have been in over 4 years still 5 hours away. Growing up my housing situation has been just as unstable as many described in this piece. It was a sense of pride and entitlement that put me in that situation not rising costs. After leaving home and moving to California I found myself struggling one day to make rent, I was paying $1,800 a month just for rent let alone a car payment and utilities. Although this was unexpected and due to something I could not control I had to remedy the situation I cut back on unnecessary expenses, moved when my lease finished and now I refuse to ever be in that situation again. I am now here at UW-Madison pursuing an education that will allow me to be financially stable for the rest of my life. If I can make it with all of the setbacks I have had in my life, why shouldn’t we encourage others to do the same? Minimum wage although it should cover expenses for housing we all know doesn’t and we adjust our sights to accommodate for that. We get an education and better ourselves and those around us. This allows us the lives we want to live. In closing I hold the renters responsible

There are lots of benefits brought by the rent control after it was adopted. First of all, the rent control lowers the rent, so that the rent apartments have become more affordable for the public, especially for poor and working people. One statistic that may help with this statement would be the journal published by Gerard Mildner and Peter D. Salins in 1991, they stated that the normal apartment renting price was about $180 in 1975 because of the rent control. 12 years later, which is 1987, the rent price increased to around $400 due to the inflation. We can see from the data that the rent went up for about 130% in 12 years. However, the consumer price in general only rose 105%. (City Journal) Therefore, instead of only maintaining the current rent price, the rent control also helps to prevent

It is likely that the renting trend will decline and buying will increase in the future but it is hard to say when. However, “if rent keeps rising and prices keep falling, fearful buyers could slowly become bargain hunters.” (Business Week, 2014). I feel that people will eventually get tired of spending there money on rent and will want to invest more in there future. I don’t think that the real estate market will ever be a boom again. I believe that people have learned that just because interest rates are low doesn’t mean they can financially take on a mortgage.

Multiple reasons exist for the the lack of affordable housing. On the demand side these include population growth and increased migration to urban areas, easily accessible housing finance, tax incentives and a “strong cultural preference for owner-occupied detached houses”. On the supply side, affordability problems are exacerbated by inflexible and slow responses to the need for new housing stock, lack of infrastructure and generally inefficient planning processes and development assessment by local governments.

Some individuals may believe that buying a home is part of the American dream and that renting an apartment does not compare, yet satisfied renters would disagree. Even though owning a home provides a sense of security while allowing modifications without permission, renting is preferred more often over buying because the expense of updating, monthly payments combined with utilities, and paying insurance on a home comes with a high price tag. A homeowner does have several luxuries such as forming lasting friendships with their neighbors, making landscaping changes to their yard, painting and designing their home. While that remains true, renting an apartment comes with several different options and

When rent control is introduced, potential investors seek out another market with a higher return and this has negative effects on the housing market as investment plummets. There is no incentive to build new housing developments in the short term or long term. In an unregulated market there is a potential to make a great return on a real estate investment that has been properly planned. In contrast, it becomes very difficult to profit from residential housing in a city with rent control. This is their livelihood and they need to be able to turn a profit for themselves and the other parties involved in their investment. As a result, developers will start building commercial structures instead of residential housing. As an article from The New

A solution to this issue may be to take buildings that are being constructed into condos and apartments and make them into affordable housing; affordable meaning, basing the prices of rent on the net income of families. If the price is based on net income the family will not have to worry about paying taxes along with other costs.