Rent regulations and other rent-controlling factors have the opposite impacts of their intended purposes. An updated study from the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) shows rent control hurts renters searching for affordable housing and benefits higher-income renters.
“Analyzing recent examples of rent regulation across the country, the findings of this report importantly reaffirm that rent control actively works against housing affordability,” said NAA President and CEO Bob Pinnegar. “To improve housing access and affordability for our nation’s renters, policymakers must turn to sustainable, long-term solutions that incentivize local communities to boost critically needed housing supply and remove artificial barriers to apartment development.”
The report builds on similar research from 2018. It digs deeper into the original findings to assert new insights such as rent control disincentivizes investments into the community and that rent control lowers the value of the property as well as unregulated properties nearby.
Each original finding and new insight was accompanied by multiple examples of how data and research have changed over time.