Council Members Mink and Jawando are pushing hard to get rent control passed in Montgomery County. CM Stewart is on board, because she really believes that rent control gives renters a “predictable housing,” an outcome that didn’t happen in Takoma Park.
It’s hard to know what the final version will look like, but one thing is certain: the more coercive the rent control will be, the more exile and displacement the poor will suffer. That’s the way it is in any jurisdiction with rent control. The following graphic shows what has been happening in rent controlled New York City (source).
The same is true in San Francisco, Los Angeles, St. Paul, etc., ad nauseam, hasta el hastío, مرارا وتكرارا, sans arrêt.
(The best way to provide affordable housing is to rezone the acres and acres of single-family lots. That’s exactly what President Biden requested of local jurisdictions, and he wasn’t articulating anything new.)
In Mink’s and Jawando’s view of the world, MoCo needs to be a place where only the wealthy can have housing and play on municipal golf courses, while the poor must find housing somewhere else (as a lot of us are already doing). They will displace and evict more rent-burdened residents than any “rent-gouging” landlord (if there is one) could possibly do. They will aggravate the gap between the rich and the poor. It looks like they will get their way to a great extent.
I’m looking for personal stories about victims of rent control.
- Are you a landlord that will be forced to sell your retirement nest egg?
- Are you a renter living in substandard housing because of rent control?
- Did your landlord sell your rental because she could no longer afford the expenses?
- Are you a realtor who was involved in these heart-breaking transactions?
- Are you a school teacher who lost or gained a student because of displacement?
- Are you a corporation that will convert a large apartment building into condos?
These nightmares are already happening throughout the US, and they will happen here as well. Let’s put a face on the (additional) suffering Jawando and Mink are placing on the county’s residents.
Contact me at mbell@cleanslatemoco.com
