Download Rent Control: Almost without exception, economists from all over the

Rent Control:
Almost without exception, economists from all over the country have said that rent control does not
protect the poor or low income tenants. Many articles have been written over the years explaining
how rent control can cause buildings and even entire neighborhoods to become run down when there
is little or no economic incentive to maintain and improve the properties. Until the Costa-Hawkins bill
was passed in cities like Santa Monica and West Hollywood there were tenants that had incomes that
way surpassed that of the landlord. Whoopie Goldberg, for example, had a rent controlled apartment
in Santa Monica that she hardly lived in but kept because the rent was so low. Costa-Hawkins allowed
landlords to raise rents to market rate after a vacancy. This helped put an end to the revolving door of
low rents in cities like Santa Monica and West Hollywood.
Rent control creates an inefficient distribution of vacancies since a tenant paying low rent will stay in a
large apartment that is better suited for families. When new housing is built, the rents are very high
because the market demands it. The supply is low, so the cost is higher.
Neighborhoods like Silver Lake and Echo Park are becoming gentrified because large investment/real
estate companies are buying up old properties and rebuilding them into new and expensive rentals.
The current (possibly low-income) residents are being displaced and new have to find housing that
they can afford and are finding that there is very little out there.
Having more units under rent control would prohibit investors from building new and much needed
housing because there would be very little return on investment. Economically it makes no sense.