Re:Oregon passed sweeping housing crisis laws
by TulliusCicero on Saturday July 20, 2019 @10:54AM
(#20486091)
> Unfortunately, rent control will have the opposite effect of what Oregon thinks, and only make housing scarcity worse.
Agreed. However, there is an orthogonal reason to be pro-rent control: housing stability.
Housing stability, as in people's freedom to remain in their home, even if their landlord, for whatever reason would rather they not. This is often a big reason why people in the US want to buy their own home, but there's no reason you couldn't give comparable stability to renters, as other countries have already done, by only letting tenants be kicked out for a handful of specific reasons (e.g. non-payment, destruction of property, etc.).
The one catch is that you can't have housing stability clauses without rent control, because otherwise the landlord could always "soft evict" by simply raising the rent until the current tenant leaves.
Agreed. However, there is an orthogonal reason to be pro-rent control: housing stability.
Housing stability, as in people's freedom to remain in their home, even if their landlord, for whatever reason would rather they not. This is often a big reason why people in the US want to buy their own home, but there's no reason you couldn't give comparable stability to renters, as other countries have already done, by only letting tenants be kicked out for a handful of specific reasons (e.g. non-payment, destruction of property, etc.).
The one catch is that you can't have housing stability clauses without rent control, because otherwise the landlord could always "soft evict" by simply raising the rent until the current tenant leaves.