Rent Control Is An Interesting Topic Within Economics

In short, lack of motivation in exchange for more red tape causes investors and landlords to move towards more profitable options. This movement of money and resources tends to negatively impact people trying to find a place to live, most notably the poor. The National Multi Housing Council (NMHC) states that prospective customers must pay finder fees to find a rental property due to a presumably growing scarcity of available housing. As if this were not bad enough, in some communities rental properties are handed down to friends and family, so they never quite leave the market. In order to obtain housing, new consumers are forced to pay “key money” and other fees. These costs tend to impact young, single, and poor families the most.

Rent control refers to laws that limit the amounts of rent and the amounts that rent can be increased in any year. There is no statewide rent control in the US, and all the rent control laws and regulation are passed by cities. Most of the cities with rent control are located in New York, California, and New Jersey. Washington, D.C. also has rent control.

In the book, Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich mentions the problem of rents is the market. When the market fails to provide necessary goods, such as affordable housing, we expect the government to step in and help. We decide to believe this, because, in the case of health care, the government offers Medicare to the elderly, Medicare to the poor, and many state programs to poor children. But, with housing, radical increases of the rental market has been followed by a retreat of the public sector.

Affordable housing has become the paramount issue of cities and dense urban areas. San Francisco is the posterchild of an unaffordable city that regardless of immense investment from blue chip firms like Google, Facebook, and their ilk of startups evaluated at $1 billion or more, policymakers and elected officials must wrestle with the housing affordability crisis that is considered endogenous to swaths of homelessness and record statistics on crime. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio has made affordable housing the centerpiece of his legislation and championed the cause as a social justice issue—neighborhoods must remain affordable to maintain diversity for all races, ethnicities, and low-income families. A small sample of 827 New Yorkers by the NY1-Baruch College City Poll found the main concern of respondents was affordable housing while crime, jobs, and homelessness were peripheral problems (Cuza, 2016). The public discourse on how to address housing across the United States has pointed to negative externalities that surround rent-regulation and homeownership. Conversely, for this essay I will present various cases in order to illustrate the housing crunch is influenced less by housing and land regulations, or antagonistic homeowners but is induced by global market forces.

Those who argue in favor of rent control say that it is the only way to protect

Throughout David Hulchanski’s article, titled “The Three Cities Within Toronto,” he divides Toronto into three cities by classifying neighbourhoods according to individual income. He describes the city as dynamic, as neighbourhoods have changed through the years between the different classes. A major factor that causes this change is gentrification, where low-income neighbourhoods are renovated, which results in replacing the low-income residents with wealthier individuals. In contrast, the population of low income neighbourhoods has also increased as the population of middle-income neighbourhoods have decreased. As a result of these changes, Toronto is increasing the number of high-income neighbourhoods and low-income neighbourhoods, phasing out the middle class. Hulchanski accurately describes polarization through the process of gentrification and by creating more cost friendly neighbourhoods for families throughout Toronto.

Within the past decade, Canada - specifically ontario, has seen and experienced a rapid increase in its housing market. Although some speculate a crash nearing, its strong growth in Ontario has become one of this decade’s largest issues. During the year of 2016 the average price of a home in the metropolitan area was $688,011, however, prices have increased by 33% in 2017 making the average home worth $916,000 dollars. This issue presents many difficulties as it affects Canada’s economy, it’s residents, immigrants, and more. Although some have tried to pass bills in order to reverse the increase, the presented plans are much worse. Take for example, Kathleen Wynne's proposed “foreign buyers tax”. With a plan as such being passed, all of

Another major cause of homelessness in Edmonton addressed by the committee is the lack of affordable housing available. According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (2008) in 1999, the average two bedroom apartment rental rate was $650/month, by 2008 the amount for the same two bedroom apartment had risen to an average of $1,170/month – an increase of 80%. The rental increase, coupled with the historically low rental availability of about 1.5% correlated directly with the “drastic decrease in rental incentives” (Avison Young, 2010); the same rental incentives that generally gave a renter a break on damage deposit, first month’s rent or utility payments. So a major increase in rent saw many people losing their homes; a substantial decrease in availability added to people not being able to find new homes; and the almost complete absence of rental incentives blocked those who found a place to rent from obtaining the rental unit.

There is a lot of discrimination and wide separation of those owning housing and those who are homeless to try and get housing. The article states, “The supply of affordable housing has not kept pace with the needs of the population. There has also been a decline in the amount of affordable rental housing in many cities. Combine that with declining incomes and a widespread reduction in social benefits for low-income Canadians, and you get a population that has to spend a greater percentage of its income on housing.” This is a huge imbalance of those owning the house and having the money to own versus those renting the

The accuracy is primarily due to Routhier’s extensive use of graphs and statistics, which provide visual depictions of the issues being discussed. The accuracy of this article is further seen through its use of citations, listed at the bottom of the page where each citation is used, for each statistic and graph presented in the article, making the evidence used in the article credible. One source Routhier used comes from the Metropolitan Council on Housing, which was used when discussing the lack of affordable housing available in New York City. The article she used states, “Many neighborhoods that used to be affordable to people of modest means have seen rents skyrocket, and the only reason why most long-time tenants are able to stay in the communities where they set roots is because of our rent-regulation laws” (Metropolitan Council on Housing). This directly connects with Routhier’s argument regarding unaffordable housing. The direct connections display both the credibility and accuracy of the source. While the article’s primary focus is the homeless population in New York City as of the year 2017, it covers a vast number of variables involved. Such variables include individuals, families, those living in shelters, and those who are not living in shelters. Each variable is covered through both Routhier’s written account and visuals, which analyze

New York City is one of the places that has rent stabilization. If you were a middle class working individual looking for a place to live it might be more difficult than you would have thought. The rent control policy in simple terms is that the government has set limits on how much a landlord can charge for rent. This policy was intended to lower prices and balance out the control between residents and landlords so that tenants with lower wages can housing. Although this policy does have positive aspects, there are many unintended consequences as a result. Since there is a control on how much a landlord will charge, many of these rentals have lower-quality living conditions. There is also a problem with availability because many rentals already

After World War I, the demand for rental housing in New York City threatened to drive rents higher. In order to keep rents from rising to their equilibrium levels, city officials imposed rent ceilings. Over time, the implementation of rent ceilings caused a market shortage to occur because the demand for rent controlled units exceeded the supply. According to the law of supply and demand when the price decreases below the equilibrium point there is a move to the right on the demand curve. Conversely, the decrease in price causes a move to the left on the supply curve. Customers demand more of an item, in this case, housing, when the price is lower; however, the suppliers are willing to supply less at the new lower price. This shift in New

Regent Park redevelopment is driven by capital and managed by gentrification. It is associated with extensive monetary procedures and clashes over urban space. It is a neoliberal urban technique intended to prime urban communities and creates a better and more vibrant community. Neil Smith (2002) has instituted this movement of gentrification. The revitalization is motivated financially, unrolling against a environment of infringing neoliberal reform. Specifically, it explores the processes and implications of socially mixed public housing redevelopment, and the ways in which urban planning is used as a social fix. Toronto’s goal is to provide good service to people. For example shelter. Public housing is to provide affordable housing. Regent

Without rent control analysts believe places such as Manhattan would become occupied solely by middle class and rich people the poor would be priced out of living there and forced to move to something less desirable. ​

Two-thirds of Canadians polled thought the government should get involved to make the pricing fairer." I think polling people on what area within the economy that they want to see lower prices is a flawed because everyone wants to pay lower prices for things without thinking about the unintended consequences. One of the main effects is decreased landlord investment in the property and higher living costs. Furthermore, you alluded to a future housing purchase in the near. In my opinion, if an area is rent controlled the landlord would be less likely to sell his/her home because they could not make a profit on the property. Also, a rent controlled tenant is less likely to move out of the apartment or house because it would cost too much to live elsewhere in the