Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 11 minutes ago
Rent Control is one of those policies that requires people to look beyond the first order effects in order to understand. While it seems like it would help people by making housing "more affordable", it actually does the opposite because it makes new construction unprofitable and strongly disincentivizes landlords from making improvements or renovations to existing homes and apartments.
And because it discourages new construction (less supply) while boosting demand, cities that impose rent control laws see higher prices for housing than cities that don't.
If you want to make housing more affordable, price controls have never been the answer. We just need to build more homes.
________________________
CREDITS:
Written, Produced, and Edited by Sean W. Malone
Directed by Seamus Coughlin
Voiced by Seamus Coughlin & Britta
Animated by Amazil and Emily
Backgrounds by Jaime
Fullscreen graphics by Ricky Tee
Animation editing by Amazil and Ryan
________________________
LINKS:
- urban.org/research/publication/rent-control-and-supply-affordable-housing
- urban.org/urban-wire/will-new-statewide-rent-control-laws-decrease-housing-supply
- aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20181289&&from=f
- nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w24181/w24181.pdf
- econlib.org/library/Enc/RentControl.html
- americanexperiment.org/81-of-economists-agree-that-rent-controls-are-bad-policy
- kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/rent-control
Rent Control is one of those policies that requires people to look beyond the first order effects in order to understand. While it seems like it would help people by making housing "more affordable", it actually does the opposite because it makes new construction unprofitable and strongly disincentivizes landlords from making improvements or renovations to existing homes and apartments.
And because it discourages new construction (less supply) while boosting demand, cities that impose rent control laws see higher prices for housing than cities that don't.
If you want to make housing more affordable, price controls have never been the answer. We just need to build more homes.
________________________
CREDITS:
Written, Produced, and Edited by Sean W. Malone
Directed by Seamus Coughlin
Voiced by Seamus Coughlin & Britta
Animated by Amazil and Emily
Backgrounds by Jaime
Fullscreen graphics by Ricky Tee
Animation editing by Amazil and Ryan
________________________
LINKS:
- urban.org/research/publication/rent-control-and-supply-affordable-housing
- urban.org/urban-wire/will-new-statewide-rent-control-laws-decrease-housing-supply
- aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20181289&&from=f
- nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w24181/w24181.pdf
- econlib.org/library/Enc/RentControl.html
- americanexperiment.org/81-of-economists-agree-that-rent-controls-are-bad-policy
- kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/rent-control
