May 14, 2021I always hear people talk about how rent controls are a bad policy, because they chase landlords to either convert residential property to commercial space, or otherwise take measures to protect their own profits which limit access to housing.
Why is it acceptable for landlords to f*** people over by either pricing them out of being able to afford housing or raising their rent significantly without warning? Why do we bow to the wishes of the landlords instead of making sure that people can afford a place to live?
- OPMay 14, 2021
I’m asking YOU specifically why this should continue, not to give me a general answer about living in a capitalist society.
May 14, 2021·editedRent controls do backfire
A better, left wing economic solution is to buy the housing back and democratise housing + build more social housing administered by local government. This increases the supply of homes and also puts pressure on private landlords to up their game and compete. Look up the vienna model
What you're suggesting is that land should be communal owned, as long as there are private landlords there will be an incentive for them to maximise their rents they can extract.
My personal opinion is we need to reform zoning laws and allow private housing to be built en masse, but build more public housing as a counter balance. This would also do a lot to end gentrification as we know it as well
This topic is one of my strong points so I'm happy to take questions.
May 14, 2021·2 repliesDecommodification of the housing sector.
The foremost thing we need to do is reduce the power of landlords significantly until we can abolish them at some date. The reason why is because private landlords (individuals and massive corporations) are the primary reason as to why gentrification occurs, why housing and apartments are nigh insanity to purchase and rent in certain locations, and on and on.
Many policies that help in this is as follows:
- Cooperative ownership of apartment buildings
These already exist-- but for the more wealthy. Essentially meaning that the tenants of an apartment building democratically choose what happens with the building and have ownership in the building.
Required and free legal counsel when dealing with tenant-landlord cases in courts
Community land trusts
Civic organizations that own and manage land, organized democratically by members of the community, rather than landlords who may not even live in the community.
Expansion and increased quality public housing
Strong push of right-of-first refusal laws
This is already exists in Washington D.C,. This means in a case where the landlord is selling off the building to another landlord, the co-operative union of tenants have the right to purchase the building first.
Vacancy taxes
Tenant unions
Much more stringent penalties for landlords failing to keep apartments in good conditions
"Good-cause" eviction laws
And finally, rent control.
Rent control is a temporary fix to the true solution of what we need: democratically-owned housing where the tenant union holds much more power than the landlord. The key is to make it so housing becomes a public, necessary good, and completely remove it as an investment.
The economic consequences of rent control that folks talk about is in the long-run, and not all rent control laws are equal. The reason why is because rent control tends to be only locally implemented, and does not come with the rest of the aforementioned policies. If rent control is to work, it requires state-wide or even federal regulation.
Rent control does indeed work, but it is a band-aid and short-term. Again, it's missing the forest for the trees: that housing becomes a necessary good and is removed from investment. It should be utilized as a tool to get us to the next, much more important steps, not as the end-all-be-all of decommodification.
- May 14, 2021
supply and demand tbh. especially in areas everyone wants to live
- May 14, 2021ASAKI
Decommodification of the housing sector.
The foremost thing we need to do is reduce the power of landlords significantly until we can abolish them at some date. The reason why is because private landlords (individuals and massive corporations) are the primary reason as to why gentrification occurs, why housing and apartments are nigh insanity to purchase and rent in certain locations, and on and on.
Many policies that help in this is as follows:
- Cooperative ownership of apartment buildings
These already exist-- but for the more wealthy. Essentially meaning that the tenants of an apartment building democratically choose what happens with the building and have ownership in the building.
Required and free legal counsel when dealing with tenant-landlord cases in courts
Community land trusts
Civic organizations that own and manage land, organized democratically by members of the community, rather than landlords who may not even live in the community.
Expansion and increased quality public housing
Strong push of right-of-first refusal laws
This is already exists in Washington D.C,. This means in a case where the landlord is selling off the building to another landlord, the co-operative union of tenants have the right to purchase the building first.
Vacancy taxes
Tenant unions
Much more stringent penalties for landlords failing to keep apartments in good conditions
"Good-cause" eviction laws
And finally, rent control.
Rent control is a temporary fix to the true solution of what we need: democratically-owned housing where the tenant union holds much more power than the landlord. The key is to make it so housing becomes a public, necessary good, and completely remove it as an investment.
The economic consequences of rent control that folks talk about is in the long-run, and not all rent control laws are equal. The reason why is because rent control tends to be only locally implemented, and does not come with the rest of the aforementioned policies. If rent control is to work, it requires state-wide or even federal regulation.
Rent control does indeed work, but it is a band-aid and short-term. Again, it's missing the forest for the trees: that housing becomes a necessary good and is removed from investment. It should be utilized as a tool to get us to the next, much more important steps, not as the end-all-be-all of decommodification.
It would be easier to just turn apartments into condos. so instead of people renting forever that money is used to buy ownership without having to have a down payment.
May 14, 2021Damn we got good answers in here
- May 14, 2021
Rents due b****
- OPMay 14, 2021·1 reply
Thanks for the answers, a lot more informative than I expected.
- May 14, 2021Grif
@TragedyGhaddafi @Asaki
Thanks for the answers, a lot more informative than I expected.
- May 14, 2021·1 reply
Vacancy taxes are an extremely important point. Great you made it!
Vacant living space is surprisingly common especially in big cities.
I lived half a year in Beijing and the sqm prices there are just nuts. One part of the problem is that around 20% of the living space there is vacant mostly due to speculation. This and the pure demand for living space were the main factors for the rising prices. The average rent exceeded the average wage of a beijing citizen like 2-3 years ago.
I belive vacancy taxes can be a great instrument to get the vacant flats back into the market!@op
The local government of Berlin introduced a rental price brake back in 2015 and intensified it last year. Now the rent prices for already occupied flats are "freezed". If you move into another flat the rent price is not alowed to exceed more than 10% of the average 2013 sqm rent in the area of the flat. The prices per sqm are pretty consistent since 2016. However the Investments regarding building and renovation are in a decline. The Vacancy on the other is rising again after decades of decline. But that also could be (partly) an effect of the Corona Pandemic.
I'm sure you will find Information in English regarding that topic if you interested. :) 
May 14, 2021ASAKIDecommodification of the housing sector.
The foremost thing we need to do is reduce the power of landlords significantly until we can abolish them at some date. The reason why is because private landlords (individuals and massive corporations) are the primary reason as to why gentrification occurs, why housing and apartments are nigh insanity to purchase and rent in certain locations, and on and on.
Many policies that help in this is as follows:
- Cooperative ownership of apartment buildings
These already exist-- but for the more wealthy. Essentially meaning that the tenants of an apartment building democratically choose what happens with the building and have ownership in the building.
Required and free legal counsel when dealing with tenant-landlord cases in courts
Community land trusts
Civic organizations that own and manage land, organized democratically by members of the community, rather than landlords who may not even live in the community.
Expansion and increased quality public housing
Strong push of right-of-first refusal laws
This is already exists in Washington D.C,. This means in a case where the landlord is selling off the building to another landlord, the co-operative union of tenants have the right to purchase the building first.
Vacancy taxes
Tenant unions
Much more stringent penalties for landlords failing to keep apartments in good conditions
"Good-cause" eviction laws
And finally, rent control.
Rent control is a temporary fix to the true solution of what we need: democratically-owned housing where the tenant union holds much more power than the landlord. The key is to make it so housing becomes a public, necessary good, and completely remove it as an investment.
The economic consequences of rent control that folks talk about is in the long-run, and not all rent control laws are equal. The reason why is because rent control tends to be only locally implemented, and does not come with the rest of the aforementioned policies. If rent control is to work, it requires state-wide or even federal regulation.
Rent control does indeed work, but it is a band-aid and short-term. Again, it's missing the forest for the trees: that housing becomes a necessary good and is removed from investment. It should be utilized as a tool to get us to the next, much more important steps, not as the end-all-be-all of decommodification.
FAX!!!
- May 14, 2021Dominik
@Asaki
Vacancy taxes are an extremely important point. Great you made it!
Vacant living space is surprisingly common especially in big cities.
I lived half a year in Beijing and the sqm prices there are just nuts. One part of the problem is that around 20% of the living space there is vacant mostly due to speculation. This and the pure demand for living space were the main factors for the rising prices. The average rent exceeded the average wage of a beijing citizen like 2-3 years ago.
I belive vacancy taxes can be a great instrument to get the vacant flats back into the market!@op
The local government of Berlin introduced a rental price brake back in 2015 and intensified it last year. Now the rent prices for already occupied flats are "freezed". If you move into another flat the rent price is not alowed to exceed more than 10% of the average 2013 sqm rent in the area of the flat. The prices per sqm are pretty consistent since 2016. However the Investments regarding building and renovation are in a decline. The Vacancy on the other is rising again after decades of decline. But that also could be (partly) an effect of the Corona Pandemic.
I'm sure you will find Information in English regarding that topic if you interested. :)maybe in UK where u call apartments flats haha. in usa theres enough housing without needing to do that. and areas where rent is out of control there are rarely vacancies.