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.