I know the economics here. But I think about politics. Could a smart mayor make some showy noises about rent control in order to buy time for the real policies to work? What if the rent control had built in time limits. Limited rent increases for a set period (a few years) to give time for other policies to work?
I think that's actually the theory, what Mamdani says he wants to do, although without the explicit precommitment. It's also been a feature of past rent control regimes, but turns out to be politically difficult to actually end rent control when circumstances change. We'll see what happens now in Montgomery county. My guess will be a wave of conversion of rental properties to owner-occupied housing.
I know once you start these kinds of carve outs interests come into play and you have unintended consequences. Nothing is as permanent as the temporary. I also just read that NYC's rent control architecture is like nothing else in the world, truly the worst of all possible worlds.
I know the economics here. But I think about politics. Could a smart mayor make some showy noises about rent control in order to buy time for the real policies to work? What if the rent control had built in time limits. Limited rent increases for a set period (a few years) to give time for other policies to work?
I think that's actually the theory, what Mamdani says he wants to do, although without the explicit precommitment. It's also been a feature of past rent control regimes, but turns out to be politically difficult to actually end rent control when circumstances change. We'll see what happens now in Montgomery county. My guess will be a wave of conversion of rental properties to owner-occupied housing.
I know once you start these kinds of carve outs interests come into play and you have unintended consequences. Nothing is as permanent as the temporary. I also just read that NYC's rent control architecture is like nothing else in the world, truly the worst of all possible worlds.