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Unfortunately it is common that pro-rent control posters contribute to these threads who know next to nothing about what makes the housing market tick. They don't understand what determines market rent (or even what the term "market rent" means), or what causes the low vacancy rate, or the history of rent control in NYC and its effects on the apartment supply.
Suffice it to say that housing economists, across the political spectrum from liberal to conservative, agree that rent control is a disaster to housing. Paul Krugman, a liberal economist, stated that "a poll of the American Economic Association found 93 percent of its members agreeing that 'a ceiling on rents reduces the quality and quantity of housing.' Almost every freshman-level textbook contains a case study on rent control, using its known adverse side effects to illustrate the principles of supply and demand. Sky-high rents on uncontrolled apartments, because desperate renters have nowhere to go -- and the absence of new apartment construction, despite those high rents, because landlords fear that controls will be extended. Predictable. Bitter relations between tenants and landlords..."
I would add to that the very significant burden that rent control places on all tax payers by hitting hard the city's main source of tax revenue - the property tax. We all have to make up for that by paying higher income tax, sales tax, etc. On the spending side, the state and city pour hundreds of millions into the bureaucracies which administer and support this monstrous system.
The rent control lobby goes to great lengths to propagate the myth that it's a case of the poor, elderly tenants vs. the big, evil, rich, scheming, (and whatever other derogatory adjective they can imagine), landlord. In reality, it's the rent-controlled tenants (many of them wealthy - why else do you think the lobby is demanding a $300,000 threshold?) vs. the rest of us.
The system is a purely political monster. If the general population wakes to the very negative effects it has on them, this monstrosity would be gone in short order.
No...you sell it to a big-time landlord who can actually afford the upkeep. Its the little guys that own 1 building that are whining rent control this and rent stabilization that. And to top it off, its the little guy that either A. owns a rent stabilized building in Manhattan or B. the little guy who owns a rent stabilized building in a gentrifying or gentrified neighborhood. I don't hear the landlords in Jamaica or Canarsie complaining.
So you have a problem with small businessmen? And you want big landlords to take an even larger portion of the city's housing?
Your arguments are getting so convoluted and stupid, you should just really stop posting on this topic...
I don't need a reference or support from economists. I want to see a true example (in the form of an American city on the population scale of NYC or almost equivalent) that has abolished rent control/rent stabilization policies so that we can see how positive or negative of an impact it has caused in that city. Don't try to "Harvard" me.
Don't ask for idiotic things you know do not exist. No city in the US - or anywhere else on earth, for that matter - has ever had so many apartments with their rent determined by the state.
The only reasoning that is needed is the one you clearly do not believe in as an obvious socialist: the law of supply and demand.
You don't want us to believe what an unbias professional economist has to say (rent control is bad) but you want us to believe your uneducated "belief" and "gut feeling" that rent control/stabilization is good for people. Oh please.
You wouldn't know it even if it smacked you in the face. You're the type of person that would defend rent control/stabilization no matter what evidence is presented to you that tells you it's bad. I wouldn't be surprised if you were a member of ACORN or that stupid liberal group WORKING FAMILIES.
It's quite obvious what side of the fence you're on. The pro-entitlement side. Pro-welfare, pro-section 8, pro-food stamps. Anything to help your "people" stay put in NY because apparently.
Leech and leech some more off hard working business owner who took the inititive and GUTS to become successful in life while the lazy folks whine and complain how the "rich" got it good, counting the money in "rich" people's pockets yet leech off their tax dollars.
Only one thing can be said in response to this post: TRUTH.
I thought this issue was resolved yesterday.Isn't the debate over.....at least until the next time the laws are about to expire.It's over for now.The laws have been reaffirmed and expanded.
I thought this issue was resolved yesterday.Isn't the debate over.....at least until the next time the laws are about to expire.It's over for now.The laws have been reaffirmed and expanded.
Ahh well..although in theory I agree with Sterpetron, the reality is, we now have this system that cannot simply end cut and dry. Best case scenario is that it is sloooowwwlllly phased out over 40 years..and that's pretty much what is happening now.
Now if they housing projects get privatized..now THAT would be an interesting turn of events...but can't see that happening even in today's austerity/debt situation. So it probably may never happen..but who knows.
I think ultimately what happens is that since they cannot find a barista for $8 per hour, because nobody will commute 2 hours for that wage, the wage will increase until employees are found. The answer is not to increase housing regulations and hold the city hostage, the answer will be wages, and at what wage are people willing to take a job.
It may cost more to buy that mocha skinny soy latte double shot expresso shake caramel topped coffee flavored caffeinated beverage, but it's better than manipulating rent regulations to hold a city hostage and score political points.
I think alot of renters acknowledge that the rent regulations are a joke and tenants are taking huge advantage, but they have a sweet deal and its all legal, so why not enjoy it and keep the gravey train going. I get that..but it doesn't make it ok or healthy for the city. Unfortunately it is such a monster now, like the housing projects, we are essentially stuck with it for generations, with only incremental changes.
I think ultimately what happens is that since they cannot find a barista for $8 per hour, because nobody will commute 2 hours for that wage, the wage will increase until employees are found. The answer is not to increase housing regulations and hold the city hostage, the answer will be wages, and at what wage are people willing to take a job.
It may cost more to buy that mocha skinny soy latte double shot expresso shake caramel topped coffee flavored caffeinated beverage, but it's better than manipulating rent regulations to hold a city hostage and score political points.
I think alot of renters acknowledge that the rent regulations are a joke and tenants are taking huge advantage, but they have a sweet deal and its all legal, so why not enjoy it and keep the gravey train going. I get that..but it doesn't make it ok or healthy for the city. Unfortunately it is such a monster now, like the housing projects, we are essentially stuck with it for generations, with only incremental changes.
True, the wages in the city and the country as a whole has been stagnant in the last few decades. It would be interesting to see how things would be had wages been growing at the rate they should've been.
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