the United States.

A 7.4% increase from the year prior.

The Covid pandemic, along with record breaking

inflation, drove up rent prices in America to

unprecedented levels.

As the pandemic was alleviating, people were

going back into the housing market, and that created a

really significant pressure on supply.

In terms of what's happening right now, we are

already seeing those prices falling and they're falling

at a fairly rapid rate.

Rents are going down now.

We ended 2022 with four straight months of rent

cuts. And then in January, rents were flat for the

first time since the great financial crisis.

But while rent has begun to stabilize nationwide, rent

affordability still remains difficult for many

Americans.

All you need is one illness.

All you need is one pandemic to make your life

more difficult.

There's literally nowhere in the country where a tenant

is not burdened by their rent.

More than 19 million renters in America are rent

burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on

housing costs. Evictions are also climbing rapidly

with the end of Covid-era protections.

There have been more than 2 million evictions since

March of 2020.

Indeed, just ten states and 34 cities tracked by The

Eviction Lab. In response, support for rent control

policies has gained traction.

We've already seen rent control be implemented in

California, Oregon, in cities like Washington,

D.C., and New York City, as well as Saint Paul in

Minnesota. So I would say it's definitely making a

comeback.

So can policy make rent more affordable in the United

States? And if so, what would those policies be?

Rent regulation refers to laws that limit rental

prices in cities or states.

Generally, it comes in two types: rent control and rent

stabilization.

To me, they're basically the same for this kind of modern

generation of rent control laws, I think.

In New York City they do make a distinction between

rent control and rent stabilization.

That's basically because there is a very old housing

stock there built before the war, essentially 1940,

47. Those are under true rent control, meaning that

they fixed the level of rent.

But then the modern wave of rent control policies

typically allows more flexibility in the amount of

rent increases. In California, the annual

allowable increase in rent is about 5% plus the changes

in local consumer price indices, or 10%, whichever

is lower.

Today just seven states, California, Maine, Maryland,

Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and Oregon, and

District of Columbia have some form of rent control at

the state or local level.

Experts say that rent control policies that

specifically target low income tenants could be

beneficial.

When I talk about targeted rent control, I'm really

speaking about affordable housing programs like the

low income housing tax credit, where low income

households can qualify to live in a quality rental

property at a well below market rent.

And those rents are set based on income year after

year. And so it's a very positive program because

you're directing the aid specifically to those who

need it.

Tenants living with rent stabilization say it plays a

big role in their financial stability.

Thalia Da Costa, a New York City tenant living in a

rent-stabilized apartment, has experienced what it's

like firsthand.

The problem with working in the entertainment field is

that you don't know when your next gig is coming.

When Covid happened, I had no idea where rent was

coming from. Luckily, we had a lot of programs to

help out with that, but I was still down $60 to

$75,000. Once I learned the laws with rent

stabilization, like it's a totally different ball game.

They protect us.

They have to treat our apartment better.

So I feel really sorry for people who don't live in a

rent stabilized apartment because you have no idea if

your rent is going to go up $500.

Rent control could help boost a sense of community

by preventing unfair displacement and

gentrification.

This is where my grandmother bought a house in 1958.

This is where my mom moved at 15 and went to high

school up the street.

Rent stabilization keeps diversity.

A socioeconomic mix is why I live here.

There are people on welfare.

There are $4 million homes right on this street that I

was born on. I don't like the homogenized

neighborhoods that plague New York.

That's not New York.

This isn't the first time that rent control policies

have gained widespread support.

After the massive economic disruption caused by World

War II, the Federal Government once imposed rent

control on roughly 80% of rental housing between 1941

and 1964.

But over time, it was abandoned because prominent

economists unanimously argued against the policy.

That sentiment mostly continues today.

There's various surveys of economists. One done by IMG

showed that only 2% thought that rent controls in places

like New York and San Francisco were having a

positive impact on affordable housing.

There's been other studies showing that the removal of

rent control has actually had a positive impact on

communities.

Economists argue that rent control would deter

developers from building more houses, which would

only worsen the housing supply crisis in the United

States. America already suffers from a deficit of

3.8 million homes, especially at low income

price points, according to Habitat for Humanity.

We have not invested as a nation in building a supply

of housing in a variety of communities and a variety of

different price points.

We've instead relied on the private sector to do so.

And the private sector has the expertise to leverage

that capital and the expertise and the knowhow to

build those units. But unless that money comes into

the market and investors see that as a better

investment than some other kind of equity or some other

kind of investment, they're not going to come.

Preventing healthy turnover in the housing market could

also hurt marginalized communities.

If there's a rent stabilization program in

place, you're really incentivizing the renter

that's in that unit today not to move.

And what does that mean for renters that want to be in

that neighborhood or want access to housing?

They're shut out because that private market capital

isn't available to build additional units.

And who's the most growing segment of our population?

It's people of color.

Not only are we not doing anything to help them, we're

actually hurting them by interfering with what would

otherwise be general healthy turnover in the

rental market.

Our research has shown that in the longer run it

actually leads to an overall reduction of

affordable rental housing supply and actually fuels

gentrification and increases the income

inequality. Our study do find evidence that are

consistent with landlords trying very hard and trying

actively to get out of rent control over the longer run

by substituting their rental units to other types

of housing that overall better cater towards higher

income residents.

So since I've lived here so long and there were people

who had lived here for decades, I knew that they

were trying to get me out.

I knew that they wanted to get rent stabilized people

out so that they could do renovations and hike up the

rent. My apartment was falling apart.

I had black mold, then I had paint falling down.

I found lead paint.

My super does not listen to me.

I knew exactly what they were doing.

It was ignoring me.

It was telling me I'm the only person that has any

problem out of all of their buildings.

All it said to me is that you want me out of this

apartment so that you can raise the rent $1,000.

That's what they wanted.