I think that this week’s articles provide insightful thoughts on the topic of Rent Control. Keating’s article generally details the history of Rent Control, of federal involvement during periods of war, locality involvement during other periods, and the mixed sentiments towards Rent Control. A large part of Rent Control debate is driven by the divide between tenant and owner interests. While both sides of the issue present reasonable arguments to the table, I think the longstanding history of opposing views shows how Rent Control is a complex issue in earnest consideration.

While I can see the merit in both of the opposing positions, after reading Salins article did I realize how strong the argument for decontrol is. While Rent Control may be necessary to protect poor and low-income households in general across the nation, regulation policies pertaining New York City need to be examined on a different level.

Salins’ argument boils down to the following: NYC has a massive housing crisis; a shortage problem which will only worsen in the future as our population increases due to the stringent, often counterproductive regulatory rules that hinder new housing development efforts, hinder improvement of deteriorating housing conditions, prevent “filtering”, misallocate rent-stabilized apartments disproportionately (no income tests), promote tenant reluctance, and create disincentives for landlord activities, thereby diminishing the quality of housing over-time.

I think the most convincing argument he produces is that while Rent Control policy may benefit poor and low-income tenants in the short-term, in the long-term the impact of such policy creates a shortage of housing across the whole socio-economic spectrum, from the mid-upper levels, to the bottom levels. As such, our housing market may be doomed-to-fail, hurting not just tenants and owners, but New York residents the most. I think there is definitely value in discussing Rent Control and should be a concern to New Yorkers, who may end up suffering worsening conditions over time. Without some form of reform to regulations, New York won’t be able to house more of its residents at an alarming rate as our population further increases in the future.