• catloaf@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Hasn’t rent control been shown to be ineffective at making everyone play nice? I feel like it’s much more effective to put your finger on the supply/demand balance by subsidizing the supply side.

    And not by just giving handouts to corporate landlords, either.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Hasn’t rent control been shown to be ineffective at making everyone play nice?

      It’s proven effective at causing landlords to scream and cry and publish 10,000 word Op-Eds about how they’re going to do a capital strike if the rules aren’t changed.

      But, when paired with new investment in public housing, its incredibly effective at keeping rental costs stable long term.

      • littlecolt@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        Just like with unions, you know it’s good for the common people, because the business and property owners speak out against it so strongly. If it’s pointless, they could just let it happen. But instead, they rally against it. So you know they’re lying when they say it won’t matter.

        It will matter.

    • danielfalk@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Yeah. It has but stuff like this plays well in the echo chamber. Like most attempts at price controls it has a lot of unintended consequences such as fewer apartments built and rented out, landlords charging obscene amounts to a new renter knowing they cannot raise the prices as needed later on, landlords raising prices whether they need to or not because they can’t hike them quickly when needed, worse maintenance.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Okay then let’s just drop an anchor into the market. Have the federal government commit to buying and managing 50,000 units in every major city. They’re available on the open market at cost plus 100 dollars a month. The 100 dollars goes into a fund and the city with the highest rents gets more federally owned apartments.

        We just keep dropping anchors until developers provide reasonable housing at reasonable prices or housing is no longer a private market.

        Government has a really big damn stick. If people’s needs don’t start getting met then those developers are going to feel it, right in their profits.

    • BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I think the problem is that once the government subsidizes anything it becomes all hands on deck peak business interest to exploit and steal said subsidies.

      Some sort of enforced regulation might work, but the government doesn’t really like to do that.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      That last sentence is all that ever happens in supply side economics. It’s the entire handbook.

      They’ve had enough carrot. It’s time for the stick.