Rent Regulation

Rent regulation is when the government steps in and says, "The rent for this place is too goshdarn high! You can only charge x-amount now. K thx."

Landlords can only rent their properties for what people are willing to pay. In happening, high-density cities, that amount is...a lot. Think: New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong. Wealthy people flock in, displacing lower-income folk as rent prices go up up up.

Then lower-income people ask the government to do something about it. They have to move far away from the city and commute absurd distances for relatively low pay. In a free market, these people would perhaps move somewhere else. Only those willing to deal with the commute and take the low pay would be working those jobs.

Rent regulation...happens. The government sets a price ceiling on rent in certain areas, i.e. ”rent-controlled areas.” Rent regulation also includes eviction rules and quality control standards for landlords, since capping the price incentivizes landlords to not take very good care of the property. Their profits were slashed, so why spend more time and money on maintenance?

Rent regulation wouldn’t be complete without enforcement, so there’s usually an enforcer (an Ombudsman, if you will) involved too.

With all the hubbub in the news about rent regulation, it’s not very common. Some places even ban it. The reason we hear about it is because it’s in the big cities, and big cities get more press than everywhere else. That’s also where all the journalists live.