Rent controls aren’t the answer to more affordable housing

Re: The rising cost of rent in Waterloo Region — Dec. 22

In a 2012 survey of economists by the University of Chicago, only two per cent agreed that rent control has a positive impact on the amount and quality of affordable rental housing; 81 per cent disagreed or strongly disagreed. A study by Stanford University on San Francisco’s 1995 rent control laws found that they actually increased the cost of rent by five per cent. This is because rent controls incentivize landlords to shift their use of property to dwellings not covered by controls (condos, perhaps) and then raise rents (this also forces occupants to move, often to poorer neighbourhoods). The study found that the supply of properties covered by controls decreased by 15 per cent.

Rent control makes landlords less likely to properly maintain their units.

An alternative to rent control is to tax all landlords and use the revenue to help renters whose costs increase. This helps people live where they like and spreads cost increases across the entire market, rather than hurting the most vulnerable.

The best way to keep rent affordable is to loosen zoning regulations, allowing more new highrises to be built in the core. These buildings attract those with high incomes who would otherwise push up rents in other parts of the city.

Simon Berberich

Waterloo