The City Council of Santa Rosa, CA has been debating the issue of rent control. We are against it.
The rent issue is easily satisfied by using existing Section 8 / Housing Authority methods to subsidize low income tenants while allowing owners to recover costs and make a return on their investment. This way government subsidizes the tenants who are in need.
Rent control freezes the rent on a unit with a tenant in place who may or may not be low income. The private property owner subsidizes the tenant---one individual subsidizing another individual who may or may not be in need. You could have a tenant who has more money than the landlord who is subsidizing him/her. If rent control freezes the rent on a unit then the County should freeze the property taxes, PGE should freeze the utility cost, and the City should freeze the water and garbage fees. Why should the property owner be the one to bear the burden?
The concept of rent control is analogous to, for instance, a grocery store that charges a different amount for the same loaf of bread depending upon who is buying it, and that bread price will not increase once it's been established. This is the role of government, not the individual business owner. That should be clear and obvious. The system is in place -- Section 8 --and should be sufficient for those in need. If the system doesn't work then fix it.
The rent issue is easily satisfied by using existing Section 8 / Housing Authority methods to subsidize low income tenants while allowing owners to recover costs and make a return on their investment. This way government subsidizes the tenants who are in need.
Rent control freezes the rent on a unit with a tenant in place who may or may not be low income. The private property owner subsidizes the tenant---one individual subsidizing another individual who may or may not be in need. You could have a tenant who has more money than the landlord who is subsidizing him/her. If rent control freezes the rent on a unit then the County should freeze the property taxes, PGE should freeze the utility cost, and the City should freeze the water and garbage fees. Why should the property owner be the one to bear the burden?
The concept of rent control is analogous to, for instance, a grocery store that charges a different amount for the same loaf of bread depending upon who is buying it, and that bread price will not increase once it's been established. This is the role of government, not the individual business owner. That should be clear and obvious. The system is in place -- Section 8 --and should be sufficient for those in need. If the system doesn't work then fix it.
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