As policymakers grapple with housing supply and affordability issues, one sector is receiving extra attention: rental housing. At the state and local level, rent control policies are being increasingly touted as a solution.
Rent control is a rare instance where the research is conclusive: It doesn’t work.
These measures not only fail to improve most renters’ financial situation but also shift economic burdens onto the housing provider with no counterbalance. This drives housing providers out of communities, stalls new development, reduces housing supply, lowers property values, and, over time, harms the area’s economy.
This toolkit will help you communicate to policymakers and community leaders that encouraging new housing development — not pricing constraints on housing providers — is the best way to help America’s renters.
Learn more about NAR’s work as a founding member of the Housing Solutions Coalition.
Background
Recent Updates
NAR Opposes White House Rent Cap Proposal
White House Blueprint for a Tenants’ Bill of Rights
HUD Announces FY2024 Income Limits for Housing Assistance Programs
Talking Points and Resources
Elevator Pitch
Draft Letter to the Editor
California Rent Control Talking Points (more states coming soon!)
Rent Control by State
In the News
Housing Solutions Coalition Newsroom
NAR Responds to Administration’s Rent Control Plan (July ’24)
White House Announcement on Housing (Feb ’24)
The Battle Against Rent Control (Aug ’23)
Correcting the Record on Rent Control (Jul ’23)