Housing Market Impacts of Rent Control

Rent control promises to make housing more affordable at virtually no cost to the public, but it also risks restricting profits to such an extent that the housing stock deteriorates. The D.C. rent control system is a moderate scheme that explicitly seeks to maintain the profitability of rental housing investments while controlling the frequency and amount of rent increases. The author's research indicates that it has had little or no effect on supply, suggesting that rent control may be a legitimate public-sector intervention.

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