It’s hard to believe that a full year has passed since rent control was passed by the County Council at the behest of Will Jawando and Kristin Mink. On July 18, 2023 I published the first snapshot of the county’s rental market. On October 7, 2023, I published a second snapshot. Since then I’ve been recording daily inventories, which I present here as the oppression against renters and housing providers begins.
Selected highlights:
- For the entire county, we see an expected drop in rental inventory during the school year, and an increase during the summer.
- Overall, the number of units available hasn’t changed.
- The number of affordable units as a percentage of all units hasn’t changed.
My predictions throughout this manipulation against renters and owners continue to be what we have already seen in other controlled jurisdictions:
- The overall number of rentals will decline year-over-year.
- The percentage units that are affordable units will decline.
- Renters who no longer need large apartments will continue to occupy them.
There are two pieces of good news about rent control. The first is that it has a firm sunset date of December 7, 2026. Rent control may be subsequently renewed, but hopefully by that time Jawando and Mink will be promoted to another jurisdiction, and they will do damage somewhere else. (Continuing to live in Montgomery County just to see that outcome will be worthwhile.) The second is that thanks to efforts by Andrew Friedson and Marilyn Balcombe, reforms to zoning rules are under serious consideration, with the result that housing supply will increase and the prices will drop. (Again, continuing to live in Montgomery County just to see that outcome will be worthwhile.)
