tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35127482.post6359939739107871243..comments2023-12-18T23:37:53.203-08:00Comments on Save the Lower East Side!: Rent regulationsrobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10114555618686460805noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35127482.post-19088380641145445622013-06-28T10:53:32.606-07:002013-06-28T10:53:32.606-07:00There is broad consensus among economists left and...There is broad consensus among economists left and right that rent regulations are bad for the housing market, and this consensus is consistently tossed into the discussion of NYC regulation, where it doesn't apply -- new construction is not required to be regulated. <br /><br />Even affordable housing advocates fail to appreciate the economic difference. Met Council and Tenants and Neighbors resist deregulation solely on the grounds that it will raise rents on stabilized renters. That argument feeds into a purely selfish us-vs-them entrenched battle between angry market-rate renters and protected renters, prioritizing one renter over another. And it feeds the "welfare queen" image of regulated renter. Rhetorically it's a losing battle. <br /><br />Tenant advocates have never, so far as I know, taken on the economic argument against rent regulations. At most they'll argue that if landlords want deregulation, it must be bad for renters. That's not much of an analysis. Does a disservice to the ordinary renter who needs amunition against the angry market-rate tenants who blame their exorbitent rents on (their false perception of) the supply effects of rent regulations. <br /><br />It's ironic because the argument against regulation simply doesn't apply to NYC, and yet the advocates have never bothered to look into it. Us-vs-them is an appropriate model for labor battles -- the forces are starkly distinguished not only by quantity (wealth) but by quality (ownership, class, privilege) -- but stabilized tenants and market-rate tenants are distinguished only by first-come-first-served, which has never appealed as justice but only as a last-ditch means of settling dispute. <br /><br />Movements are most effective when they identify their allies and avoid alienating potential enemies. Regulation advocates so far have succeeded in alienating market-rate renters. It's unnecessary. robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07464179798705084025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35127482.post-2311127882085390242013-06-27T07:58:28.950-07:002013-06-27T07:58:28.950-07:00I was not familiar with the Cato-libertarian posit...I was not familiar with the Cato-libertarian position on rent regulation apart from generalities about favoring market forces over government intervention. So I found your critique both enlightening and politically useful. Thanks for posting it to your blog. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35127482.post-81266528155605873552013-06-25T19:29:14.394-07:002013-06-25T19:29:14.394-07:00If someone writes a blog but no one reads it, is i...If someone writes a blog but no one reads it, is it still a blog ?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com