Posted on 09/06/2021 8:05:04 AM PDT by AbolishCSEU
The St. Paul City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved the wording of a rent control ballot measure residents will consider at the polls in November.
Now, groups for and against the initiative are gearing up to lobby for votes on the proposal to cap rent increases at 3% annually.
A coalition of housing advocates gathered about 5,600 signatures in the spring and early summer, more than enough to place the policy decision in the hands of the electorate.
St. Paul voters will be asked: "Should the city adopt the proposed ordinance limiting rent increases? The ordinance limits residential rent increases to no more than 3% in a 12-month period, regardless of whether there is a change of occupancy. The ordinance also directs the city to create a process for landlords to request an exception to the 3% limit based on the right to a reasonable return on investment."
If enough residents vote "yes," St. Paul will adopt the ordinance. Minnesota state law says cities wishing to institute rent control laws must allow the public to vote on the proposal in a general election.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
In a country with FUNCTIONAL Constitution, the courts would rule, without exception, that the imposition of Rent Control is a TAKING, and therefore the government is required to Compensate the property owner. In effect, it’s no different than government seizing a portion of a privately owned apartment building.
...but this is what you get, when you allow renters to vote.
Rent control is gov. stealing property rights without compensation, same as an eviction moratorium. If a leveling of rents is desired then gov. should pay the difference, not the property owner.
Plank #1 of the Communist Manifesto: Abolition of private property rights.
http://www.laissez-fairerepublic.com/TenPlanks.html
What happens if most renters leave in the middle of the night without paying the back rent???? Can the landlords raise the rent as much as they want????
This will be a serious problem as inflation ramps up.
Guaranteed to depress property values.
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting for what to have for dinner.
That’s why the United States is (was) a constitutional representative republic and not a democracy.
The change of occupancy part is the worst part.
Will they cap property taxes at 3%? Will they cap what carpet stores can charge for new carpeting at 3%? Will they cap what painters can charge landlords at 3%?
Elections have consequences.
Too bad most landlords aren’t rich enough to pull the apts or rooms off the market and make the libs squeal .... Keep them off the market until the landlords are properly paid for their losses the last 18 months.....
This is guaranteed to produce a shortage of available rental units.
Essentially, if you want an apartment it will be cheap, but you will not be able to find one.
The public is too stupid to understand the consequences of deliberately closing down the free market. Rent control. Minimum hourly rate of pay. Rent “forgiveness.” Guaranteed Basic Income. Price controls. Affordable housing.
They all fail every time they are tried, and the public, incapable of understanding, falls for them time and time again.
The end goal of it all is total government ownership of all the means of production, and the end of private ownership. The stupid public thinks that is a good idea, but doesn’t seem to understand that their pay will be what the government thinks it should be.
The city is stupid - they want to be charitable and increase welfare payments by 10-15% annually but will only allow landlords to increase by 3% which is where the city leaders get their money from.
Working hard to eliminate low cost housing. Apparently they want to increase homelessness.
“The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy” by Adam Tooze chronicles what happened when the German Weimar government instituted nationwide rent control due to hyperinflation: no new housing was being built because you can’t make money off of rent controlled property. Germans were living in shanty towns outside of German cities. It was an absolute catastrophe. The Nazis promised to build public housing to fix the shortage. Which was a big vote getter....
Rent control is one of the more popular Communist actions. People like to have steady payment and yes, sometimes greedy landowners kind of invite this on themselves.
However, look at the flip side. When rent is too low, people stop investing in new real estate and stop fixing the old one. Eventually you end up with Soviet style housing shortage. People just piling up in the few remining crumbling, dirty, sick housing units.
Results:
1. Massive increase in rents before law takes effect.
2. Conversion of family rentals into other types of units so prices can be reset.
3. Sell-off of rental properties.
4. Low/no maintenance of existing rentals, especially in inflation continues.
Minneapolis hasn't been viable in a while but the Democrat/Communist Black Lives MatterTM Riots of 2020 cemented it. Rent Control is their only option since that city isn't "coming back".
On a related note, New York City made it illegal for landlords or tenants, to list apartments on AirBnB because it would displace tenants who were not viable and it competed directly with the hotel industry.
Fools.
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