Rent Control
Chicago Rule Change Encourages Affordable Housing
This month, changes to Chicago's Affordable Requirements Ordinance (ARO) will go into effect, raising the in-lieu fees developers must pay to opt out of building affordable units downtown.
The Economics of Rent Control
A simple explanation of why strict rent control reduces housing supply, and why moderate rent control does so to a much lesser extent.
Reconsidering Rent Control
Rent control's heyday came and went decades ago, as free-market advocates won out over long-term renters. With housing prices skyrocketing in many U.S. metros, the benefits of rent control may outweigh the harms.
The Trouble with Legalizing Illegal Units
The recent example of a dramatic rent increase in San Francisco may be less about loopholes in current housing laws and more about failing to consider all the implications of rushed legislation.
Judge Evicts Rent-Stabilized Tenant for Listing on Airbnb
A judge's ruling in New York has evicted a rent-stabilized tenant in Hell's Kitchen. Renters might want to reconsider the terms of their lease before listing their apartments for rent—especially if they live in a rent stabilized apartment.
The False Choice in the Gentrification Debate
The income of original residents is more important to the gentrification debate than any opposition to luxury development or price controls. We need to begin to embed income inequality within the gentrification debate.
San Francisco Looks to Limit "No Fault" Evictions
Beset by a wave of so-called "no fault" evictions, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and state legislators are taking aim at the Ellis Act, and the speculators who utilize the California law to force tenants out of their rent-controlled homes.
Is Rent Control the Solution for Rising Unaffordability?
With rental vacancy rates declining across America, the expansion of rent control policies may seem like a logical solution for protecting vulnerable renters from fast rising prices. But Peter Tatian argues there's little evidence that it works.
What Happens When You Do Away With Rent Control?
Stephen Smith points to new economic research highlighting the dramatic effect of rent control on the value of nearby properties. Hint: it keeps prices down everywhere.
S.F. Rent Control Helping the Rich, Not the Poor
Wealthy families are using San Francisco's rent-controlled apartments as vacation homes, to the detriment of landlords and low-income families, for whom the regulations intended to preserve affordable housing were designed.
Why Rent Control is a Flawed Tool
Scott James reports on the ironic application of rent control laws in San Francisco, which results in people of relatively modest means subsidizing the housing of the extraordinarily wealthy.
Political Housing Evolution In San Francisco
Prompted by the May 24 approval by the Board of Supervisors of the massive redevelopment of the Parkmerced garden apartments, The Examiner looks at the city's evolution from protecting city character at all costs to a more urbanist approach.
Saving Local Businesses from Rising Rents and Upscaling Neighborhoods
New York City is looking at ways to keep beloved local stores from being forced out by high-end shops and restaurants in up-and-coming neighborhoods such as lower Ninth Avenue near the Meatpacking District.
Eminent Domain Back On The Ballot In California
Two ballot measures -- one sponsored by property owners, the other by local government groups and businesses -- seek to tighten the rules around eminent domain, and potentially end rent control in the state.
Ballot Measure to Weigh Eminent Domain in California
Two ballot measures on the June ballot in California will challenge the state's eminent domain and rent control rules.
Libertarians v. Planners - Round II
Last year California was one of the states targeted by libertarians in the post-Kelo environment for an initiative that, if successful, would essentially outlaw takings. The country is still at near-fever pitch about eminent domain, but the really scary aspect of the legislation (modeled on Oregon's Prop 37) was that it would have virtually tied local governments' hands with regard to regulatory takings as well. In California Proposition 90 failed to pass after the New York developer who was financing the campaign stopped funding it. However, the Yes campaign had created some strange bedfellows, with poor African-Americans in particular advocating Yes votes as a way to end the destruction of their neighborhoods through badly managed redevelopment initiatives.
A Way Out of New York City Rent Regulation Impasse
The merit of rent regulation is a recurring debate in New York City. On one side are tenant advocates arguing that rent regulation is desperately needed to help poorer households, maintain socioeconomic diversity in New York City, and prevent the City from becoming the preserve of the super rich. Real estate interests on the other hand argue that rent regulation deprives property owners of the right to market their apartments as they see fit, causes landlords to under-invest in their properties, and that in many instances the beneficiaries of rent regulation are affluent. What makes the debate so bedeviling and contentious is that both sides are correct.
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