Posted on 01/04/2015 11:48:07 AM PST by Olog-hai
Cynthia Chaffee’s Manhattan apartment would likely go for more than $5,000 a month if the landlord charged market price. But Chaffee pays thousands less thanks to the city’s long-standing rent stabilization rules—regulations that will expire this year if lawmakers don’t act.
The 63-year-old paid $300 a month when she moved into the one-bedroom space in 1978. To Chaffee, the rules governing how much she and more than 2 million other New York City residents pay in rent protect the city’s diversity and character. […]
The laws governing the rent paid by Chaffee and more than 2 million other New York City residents are due to expire June 15, and state lawmakers are preparing for what could be a bruising debate over whether to renew, strengthen or weaken them. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Communism at it’s finest at work!!
Rents should be whtever the traffic will bear.
They probably would be if not for the long history of rent “control”. Note how the “threat” of rent rates jumping to $5,000/month ($60,000/year) is supposed to shock the reader into saying “we can’t let rent controls expire!”
“Aren’t these laws at least partially responsible for urban decay - when landlords cannot raise rent to even cover their costs to maintain...”
Yes. In San Francisco, landlords can only raise rents 60% of the increase in their costs. More Robin Hood government in action. “Detroit” will come to all of them sooner or later. Gravity cannot be defied indefinitely.
“Rental prices across the country are already highly inflated due to the subsidies some receive.”
More likely rental prices reflect cost. And at the top of the list are real estate taxes.
That's exactly right. Taxes are at the top - followed by utilities, maintenance, and insurance costs. Many of these renters vote for ideas/taxes and people that keep making everything more expensive ...and, then, wonder why everything is so expensive.
“Many of these renters vote for ideas/taxes and people that keep making everything more expensive ...and, then, wonder why everything is so expensive.”
But they’re part of the “Free$hit Society” (an offshoot of the Gibbsmedats) so they think that the money they need comes “from somewhere else.” With them, there is no cause and effect, just what they “need.”
I would also imagine that, if not for the controls, many would be displaced and it would look like government trampling on them after leading them on for so long - leftists caused the problem and now need to maintain that "status quo" to mask their damage.
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