No decent person wants to see others struggle to afford safe, decent housing. But this does not mean that we should embrace any policy—such as rent control—that keeps rents more affordable. The means are not justified by the ends. In evaluating any issue, we must consider the full context—all of the relevant information. If we…
Like many states, Colorado has a state-wide ban on rent control. As is happening in other states, renters and housing activists are attempting to repeal the ban. In a recent opinion piece, two Boulder residents openly admit that they are nothing more than thugs, writing that Colorado’s ban on rent control means we cannot force…
The Rent Control Board (RCB) in Santa Monica, California has come up with a unique “solution” to the city’s shortage of affordable housing—force landlords to remove their properties from the rental market. The board wants to enforce a state law—the Ellis Act—that requires landlords who evict a tenant to leave the rental market for at…
Writing for the Socialist Alternative, Varun Belor laments the failure of Seattle’s City Council to pass a rent control ordinance. Belor notes that none of the council’s eight Democrats supported the bill, and for more than forty years the Democrat dominated state legislature has upheld Washington’s ban on rent control. Democrats, Belor claims are “stooges”…
In 2024, Massachusetts voters may be asked to repeal the state’s ban on rent control. The proposed constitutional amendment would allow municipalities to impose rent caps. The Massachusetts Attorney General has yet to decide if the matter should be on the ballot. As is the case of a similar measure in California, this is not…
A recent piece by columnist LZ Granderson argues that school choice is “a cover for segregation.” It is a rebuke of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, which outlawed segregation in government schools, and it is an attempt to create separate but unequal schooling in the name of God. School choice, he claims is…
Housing activists have long called for the government to de-commodify housing—they want to remove profit from rental housing. A current effort to institute this policy has housing activists calling for the Federal Housing Finance Agency to institute national rent control for housing financed by the agency. In an opinion piece on The Hill, activist Tram…
In a case of temporary sanity, the Seattle City Council recently voted down a bill that would have enacted a rent control law. Though Washington State prohibits rent control, the measure proposed by socialist Councilmember Kshama Sawant would have taken effect if the state repeals its prohibition. The council’s opponents to the law correctly argued…
In 2024, California voters will decide whether to repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which prohibits municipalities from imposing rent control on properties built after 1995. Regardless of the outcome of the election, this is just another in a long string of examples that California is dominated by mob rule. In California, nearly every activity…
Last week, I wrote about the elephant in the room regarding the affordable housing crisis for low0income households. The media and housing activists regularly subject us to sob stories to promote “renters’ protections,” but they say nothing about the choices that many low-income households make. An example comes from an article in The Fresno Bee….
In my book, The Affordable Housing Crisis: Causes and Cures, I show how a century of policies attempting to provide affordable housing have failed. Indeed, those policies have made the housing crisis worse. Yet, politicians and housing activists clamor for more of the same policies. The wrong framework leads to bad decisions. Minneapolis provides us…
An editorial by the New York Daily News Editorial Board provides an example of the nonsense that can be written when principles are abandoned. In the piece, the board agrees with the idea that rent control exacerbates the problems it is allegedly intended to remedy. It then cautions the Supreme Court, which may be considering…