In the United States, rent control refers to laws or ordinances that set price controls on the rent of residential housing to function as a price ceiling. More loosely, "rent control" describes several types of price control:

  • "strict price ceilings", also known as "rent freeze" systems, or "absolute" or "first generation" rent controls, in which no increases in rent are allowed at all (rent is typically frozen at the rate existing when the law was enacted);
  • "vacancy control", also known as "strict" or "strong" rent control, in which the rental price can rise but continues to be regulated in between tenancies (a new tenant pays almost the same rent as the previous tenant); and
  • "vacancy decontrol", also known as "tenancy" or "second-generation" rent control, which limits price increases during a tenancy but allows rents to rise to market rate between tenancies (new tenants pay market rate rent but increases are limited as long as they remain).

As of 2022, seven states (California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Maine, Oregon, and Minnesota) and the District of Columbia have localities in which some form of residential rent control is in effect (for normal structures, excluding mobile homes). In September 2022, the Saint Paul City Council voted to amend the law, allowing higher vacancy increases and exempting units built in the preceding or following 20 years from the increase cap. Since then, St. Paul's typical rents have grown at a pace similar to that of non-rent controlled Minneapolis in recent years according to Zillow estimates, since the ordinance gives landlords several options to raise rents more than the 3% annual cap.

New York

New York State has had the longest history of rent controls, since 1920.

In a 2013 analysis of the body of economic research on rent control by Peter Tatian at the Urban Institute (a think tank described both as "liberal"

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References

  • Baar, Kenneth K. (1983). "Guidelines for Drafting Rent Control Laws: Lessons of a Decade." Rutgers Law Review, Vol. 35 No. 4 (Summer 1983).
  • Baar, Kenneth K. (1992). "The Right to Sell the "Im"mobile Manufactured Home in Its Rent Controlled Space in the "Im"mobile Home Park: Valid Regulation or Unconstitutional Taking?" The Urban Lawyer, Vol. 24 pp.&nbsp;157–221.
  • Downs, Anthony (1996). A Reevaluation of Residential Rent Controls. Washington, D.C. : Urban Land Institute, .
  • Friedman, Milton, and George J. Stigler (1946). Roofs or Ceilings? The Current Housing Problem. Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y.: Foundation for Economic Education.
  • Gilderbloom, John I., editor (1981). Rent Control: A Source Book. Center for Policy Alternatives; 3rd edition, June 1, 1981. .
  • Keating, Dennis, editor (1998). Rent Control: Regulation and the Housing Market. Center for Urban Policy Research, .
  • McDonough, Cristina (2007). "Rent Control and Rent Stabilization as Forms of Regulatory and Physical Taking." Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review, Vol. 34 pp.&nbsp;361–85.
  • Niebanck, Paul L., editor (1986). The Rent Control Debate. University of North Carolina Press, .
  • Tucker, William (1991). Zoning, Rent Control and Affordable Housing. .
  • Turner, Margery Austin (1990). Housing Market Impacts of Rent Control. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press, .
  • Rent Control Around the World: Pros and Cons Archived from the original 2022-03-06 at the Wayback Machine
  • additional California cities with rent regulation
  • New York communities with rent control
  • Pro-rent control article from tenant.net
  • New York Magazine article on Rent Control including interviews with tenants
  • Rent Control in the New Millennium by Dennis Keating
  • Almanac of Policy Issues – Rent Controls
  • Rent Controls and Housing Investment
  • Pro-rent control article from Dollars & Sense magazine
  • Four Thousand Years of Price Control – Mises Institute

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