Rent gouging only works if people are limited in where they rent. If you don't need a job, then you don't need to live near your job and can instead live wherever the rent is cheapest.
Which is usually a small shrinking country town where people are leaving because there are no jobs.
Re:Policies that make the poor less poor
by imtringued on Monday June 21, 2021 @10:02AM
(#27579252)
Housing is often a sellers market. If you can find a place where it isn't you get to save money.
This complaint is actually part of the core economic thesis put forwards in the lyrics of the most popular punk song in Sweden[1], written in the mid 70s.
Exactly. This is what happened in France with the allocations logement (APL). Since the state was now funding a part (let's say 150€ over 400€ rent), what the landlords did was rising the rents by about the same amount. Results were net negatives:
1. Purchasing power of student didn't change
2. Rent augmented for everyone in the segment of housing that could be rent to students
3. Rich people get richer