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Originally Posted by mcgrath618
How did "robust rent control" work in other US Cities when implemented?
Do you know what would actually better aid Chinatown in combating rent and property tax increases as a result of the stadium? More housing. Supply and demand dictates that if there is a large supply of housing in the area, rent can remain cheap.
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More supply would be great, but you're ignoring the benefits of rent control in helping to make creating that supply possible.
Even studies arguing against rent control concede that such laws are incredibly effective at preventing displacement through rising rents. Their issues owe to inefficiencies that they create by making movement more difficult. Once in a rent controlled apartment there is enormous incentive not to leave and if your property is effected by rent control there is increased incentive to sell and for the property to end up no longer being a rental property at all. Because of this areas that are rent controlled often end up gentrifying faster and the prices for non rent controlled units go even higher.
Now some of these negative incentives that rent control creates can be fixed through thoughtful policy that allow more freedom of movement. But, some of these negative incentives are baked in. If robust rent control was introduced to Chinatown and very little additional supply was built an immigrant trying to get an affordable apartment in Chinatown in 2030 may very well have a much more difficult time doing so because of the unintended consequences of rent control.
This is why rent control works so well in conjunction with building more housing. Rent Control creates the safety net for current residents so that no longer fear being displaced. Because they no longer fear being displaced they are no longer fighting against development and improvement. Which makes increasing the supply easier.
Rent control would be a huge relief to residents across the city and severely tamp down on people fighting against development in their own communities. It would also make building new housing supply less profitable of course. But that's why you slash red tape and up zone everything and make building dense housing easier to try and offset that decrease in profitability so as to encourage developers to continue increasing supply.