Long-time tenants swear rent control is the only thing keeping them in the city, while landlords and economists argue it's strangling housing supply. Does LA's rent stabilization ordinance help the many or hurt everyone in the long run?
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Add your commentI've lived in my Koreatown apartment for 22 years. My rent is $847 a month. The market rate for my unit right now is $2,400. Without rent control I would have been pushed out to the Inland Empire a decade ago, probably longer. Tell me again how rent control is 'hurting' people like me. I'm listening.
Vienna, Austria has had strong rent control for nearly a century and consistently ranks as one of the most livable and affordable major cities on earth. Just gonna leave that there.
Counterpoint to the econ 101 crowd above — economists actually disagree way more on rent control than introductory textbooks suggest. There's serious peer-reviewed research showing well-designed rent stabilization can maintain neighborhood stability without catastrophically reducing supply. Diamond et al. 2019 showed landlords in SF did reduce rental stock, yes, but that's partly a policy design problem, not proof rent control itself is always bad. Nuance exists.
My grandparents bought a fourplex in Boyle Heights in 1971. Now my uncle owns it. Three of the four units have tenants who have been there since before I was born, paying rents that dont even cover the property tax increase from last year let alone repairs. My uncle isnt some corporate villain. Hes a retired bus driver trying to fund his own retirement. The whole 'evil landlord' framing erases people like him completely.
born and raised in Leimert Park. watched this neighborhood transform my entire life. rent control kept my mom's block intact for years. the moment buildings started getting sold to new owners who found loopholes — Ellis Act evictions, substantial rehab exemptions — the community just evaporated. the policy isn't the problem. the swiss cheese enforcement and all the carve-outs are the problem. fix THOSE and stop pretending the whole concept is broken.
okay but here's what nobody wants to say out loud — my landlord literally took our building off the rental market entirely last year. converted to condos, sold them all. four families displaced. so yes, technically those units are 'still there' but theyre not rentals anymore. rent control didnt save us. it saved the people who stayed before us and then pulled the ladder up.
As someone who just moved here from Chicago eight months ago, I genuinely cannot believe what counts as 'affordable' in this city. Found a studio in Silver Lake for $2,100 and was told I was 'getting a deal.' If rent control is supposedly keeping prices down I'd hate to see what this place looks like without it.
I actually looked this up so correct me if im wrong but buildings built after 1978 aren't covered by the RSO right? Which means the majority of newer construction in LA operates at full market rate anyway. So the argument that rent control is stopping developers from building new units is kind of... not accurate? Because new buildings aren't subject to it in the first place. Someone explain to me why developers aren't just building then.
Honest question for the people defending rent control: can any of you name a single city where it actually solved a housing crisis long-term? Not stabilized a few tenants temporarily, actually SOLVED it? I'll wait here in my $3,400/month non-RSO apartment that I can barely afford.
Fun fact: the RSO was passed in 1978. You know what else happened in 1978? LA had way more rental housing being built. Coincidence? I think not. Every econ 101 student learns that price ceilings cause shortages. This isn't complicated people. Landlords stop investing, builders stop building, supply craters. We are literally living inside a textbook example right now.
lol at this whole debate. Doesn't matter. Nothing changes. City Council talks. Advocates march. Landlords lobby. Rents go up. People leave. Has been this way since I moved here in 2003 and will be this way when I finally give up and move to Phoenix like everyone else I know. Miss me with the optimism.
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