Lawmakers Seek To Enact Rent Control Measures In US: WSJ

Amid rising rental prices, U.S. lawmakers are looking to enact rent control, reviving measures shunned mainly in recent years, to curb the surge in home rental prices, reports Wall Street Journal.

According to real-estate broker Redfin Corp, the prices have hit record levels across the U.S and are up about 18% on average over the past two years. The proposals would generally allow landlords to boost monthly rents by 2% to 10%. 

Rising rents are a significant contributor to the recent surge in inflation that is starting to weigh on the U.S. economy. The cost of shelter accounts for 40% of the core Consumer Price Index, CPI’s most prominent component. 

Some cities are weighing more restrictive rent caps than previously considered. St. Paul, Minn., enacted the only rent control in the Midwest last year and now has one of the most stringent policies in the country. 

In Santa Ana, Calif., local officials have gone beyond the state’s rent-control measure to limit local rent increases to 3% at apartments built before 1995. Other rent-control efforts will also have to navigate prohibitions, which still exist in more than two-dozen states. 

The real-estate business successfully lobbied several states to write anti-rent control statutes decades ago, and the industry is active again. “We consider it an existential threat,” said Jim Lapides, a spokesman for the National Multifamily Housing Council, a landlord trade group.

But some lawmakers don’t see a better way to address the rising rent burden. Florida state Sen. Victor Torres is proposing to overturn Florida’s rent-control ban.

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