Rent control pros and cons economics

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Read carefully the attached document and then post your comments bearing in mind the following questions:

1- What are the pros and cons of rent controls?

2- Why economists disagree on the usefulness of rent control?

3- Do you believe rent control can help the poor?

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rent control

Rent regulation can take various forms, including rent control (the placing of a cap on the rent that can be charged) and rent stabilisation (setting limits on how much rent can be raised over time). Supporters argue that introducing controls helps ensure that households on low and middle incomes are not squeezed out of cities in which housing costs are soaring. In many booming cities, growth has pushed up rents, and over time the composition of many neighbourhoods has changed in favour of those who can afford higher prices. Supporters of rent control often point to Germany, where it is illegal to charge rent more than 20% above the level charged for a comparable property. (Around 50% of people rent their housing in Germany; almost 90% of all Berliners do, many in pleasingly spacious, well-looked-after apartments.) In the ten years to 2014, the proportion of British households headed by someone aged between 25 and 34 which rented privately rose from 22% to 44%. In Seattle, rents for one-bedroom apartments increased by nearly 11% between 2010 and 2013. A case could be made that rent controls provide long-term security for renters, and tilt the balance of power away from landlords towards tenants. That, some reckon, makes for a fairer housing market, in which households with lower incomes cannot easily be pushed aside by landlords keen to "gentrify" the neighbourhood.

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Some locaities in California and New York are still using Rent Control but nationwide, the majority have abolished such regulations following policy advice from academic scholars and practitioners who used statistical analysis to prove that rent control reduces housing supply and qualities.

So if rent control hurts tenants and landlords, who does it help? Unfortunately, rent control is a political tool more than anything else. At face value, it sounds like it would help the poor, but often -