Opinion of rent control

[H. Ross Peron]

Who the heck is voting Option 1?

[politicus]

Who the heck is voting Option 1?

Non-Anglos maybe? Rent control is not so universally vilified outside the Anglosphere. I am used to taking it for granted (not that I voted in the poll).

Probably also some American leftists.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Non-Anglos maybe? Rent control is not so universally vilified outside the Anglosphere.

It isn't even universally vilified here, although maybe that's just a case of the grass being greener on the other side and so on.

[Gustaf]

We have it in Stockholm and it's obviously horrible. Like a lot of privileged people I am of course benefitting personally - I'm paying half of what my immigrant friends are paying for a better place to live. As would be expected the average person living in a rent control flat in the city is a high-income earner (this has been confirmed every time it is studied). For whatever mystic reason this is rarely reported by the city journalists nor mentioned by the city politicians. Instead, whenever rent control is criticized news teams dig out some random impoverished old lady who doesn't want to leave her apartment.

Rent control essentially amounts to the state taxing everyone to set up a lottery where the lottery is rigged so that those with power and money have a significantly higher chance of winning. Why leftwingers support it I really don't know.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Voted option 3. Worth noting it's actually not all that common in the US:

The red states have rent control policies in place in some municipalities. The blue states have rent control prohibited by state law. The green states don't have any laws against rent control, but currently don't have any municipalities with it in place.

[© tweed]

no, it's just iconic in places like NYC.  my mom has this friend that is the epitome of the right's favorite leach.  worked for the Parks Dept during peak union strength, so he has a pension of between $30-40k/yr in addition to Social Security (was making about $70k/yr when he retired at age 55), has a rent controlled apt so he pays ca. $500/month for prime locale near Midtown.  

he's also a Jew (an Italian Jew - a rarity) and is a loner -- it's hard to keep his attention for more than 20 minutes, and he has a habit of getting far too drunk and acting bizarrely if he's not in public.  though he does like plays and movies and could write for a magazine, a very gifted reviewer.

anyway, he's iconic for the waste of a welfare state attitude Gustaf just laid out, translated into American.