Oregon expected to enact first state-wide rent control law
1–10 of 62 posts
Re: Oregon expected to enact first state-wide rent control law
#2Rent control is a bandaid that tries to fix fundamental systemic flaws and lack of planning by society.
Problems:
They do mention Oregon's land use laws. I didn't see it while skimming but (for west coast states) the land that is actually "state" instead of federal is also an issue (#1).
However the biggest issue is that the Supply vs Demand curves for housing are simply insane.
Demand is mostly dictated by jobs, and only slightly moderated by the quality of public transit and transportation infrastructure (mass transit AND freeways/parking included).
As a nation the US has been housing constrained for at least 20 years, probably longer.
Worse for a generation or two housing has been used as an investment rather than the cost center that it is; so all sorts of market incentives are massively messed up.
Finally "career" jobs, which allow someone to live in the same house for their entire adult life more or less began a long slow death in the 1980s, which is the true beginning of the destruction of communities.
Solutions to consider:
Tax, based on land use opportunity cost/value. This should have a built in history consideration that gradually introduces rising land use potential over a number of years. (E.G. sliding window over 10 or 20 years)
Tax, transparently, to fund infrastructure, and provide a place (website?) where someone can go to see what their tax dollars are actually being spent on. How they are getting value for services.
Zone and re-zone and do urban development more like Japan (#2) and Europe (? speculation) do; based on nuisance level.
Encourage, via help with red-tape, ignoring local opposition when exceeding code requirements, and co-coordinating funding and insurance bids for projects, that there is ample supply on the market to reach the desired rental price for an area. If builders don't want to service an area help local benefit corporations get started to fulfill this need.
Raise the building codes and promote buildings that are designed to last, be safe and comfortable to live in, and which encourage privacy at home while being responsible to the community around them.
Design transportation in city cores more like the Caves of Steel, and provide civic infrastructure (monitored parking garages/etc) at the edges to interface with the exterior world.
#1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LruaD7XhQ50 "CGP Grey - what is (US) Federal Land"
#2 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8540845 ----- http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html
Edits - I can never remember what variant of markdown this site uses... please don't convert my text to italics.
Re: Oregon expected to enact first state-wide rent control law
#3Oregon actually has pretty nice rental laws, strongly favoring tenants. This shows that continuing.
Also 8/10 pictures from Oregon are going to have that hazy white color cool. It's always cloudy there.
Re: Oregon expected to enact first state-wide rent control law
#4Why do governments go this direction when it causes so many problems?
In a market economy, which includes both housing construction and home rentals, price is the signal by which demand is measured. Rent control either eliminates or severely distorts that signal.
I’m going to predict that:1) fewer new homes will be constructed and 2) rents will sky rocket where it’s possible (tenant turnover).
Re: Oregon expected to enact first state-wide rent control law
#5Rent control is a bandaid that tries to fix fundamental systemic flaws and lack of planning by society. Problems: They do mention Oregon's land use laws. I didn't see it while skimming but (for west coast states) the land that is actually "state" instead of federal is also an issue (#1). However the biggest issue is that the Supply vs Demand curves for housing are simply insane. Demand is mostly dictated by jobs, and…
Another far less wonky solution to consider: public housing.
Re: Oregon expected to enact first state-wide rent control law
#6Bizarre to not mention the long-standing, broad consensus among economists that rent controls do more harm than good.
Courtesy Wikipedia, here’s Paul Krugman in 2000:
https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/07/opinion/reckonings-a-rent...
Surely if economists were so widely in support of such policies, the Times would have highlighted that fact.
Re: Oregon expected to enact first state-wide rent control law
#7Rent control is a bandaid that tries to fix fundamental systemic flaws and lack of planning by society. Problems: They do mention Oregon's land use laws. I didn't see it while skimming but (for west coast states) the land that is actually "state" instead of federal is also an issue (#1). However the biggest issue is that the Supply vs Demand curves for housing are simply insane. Demand is mostly dictated by jobs, and…
Another far less wonky solution to consider: public housing.
The tricks tend to be affording enough of it, building enough of it, and maintaining it. Even places with widely lauded public housing systems, like Vienna, can't reliably manage all of these. Public housing in the US has a less pleasant record, often synonymous with concentrated poverty.
Re: Oregon expected to enact first state-wide rent control law
#8Why do governments go this direction when it causes so many problems? In a market economy, which includes both housing construction and home rentals, price is the signal by which demand is measured. Rent control either eliminates or severely distorts that signal. I’m going to predict that:1) fewer new homes will be constructed and 2) rents will sky rocket where it’s possible (tenant turnover).
I'm going to predict that governments go this direction because of all the problems the housing market economy has caused.
Re: Oregon expected to enact first state-wide rent control law
#9Bizarre to not mention the long-standing, broad consensus among economists that rent controls do more harm than good. Courtesy Wikipedia, here’s Paul Krugman in 2000: https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/07/opinion/reckonings-a-rent... Surely if economists were so widely in support of such policies, the Times would have highlighted that fact.
That's the big thing that jumps out at me. There are very, very few serious economic policies that have this level of agreement among economists.
Greg Mankiw did a list a while back about what economists agree on: https://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2009/02/news-flash-economist...
Re: Oregon expected to enact first state-wide rent control law
#10Why do governments go this direction when it causes so many problems? In a market economy, which includes both housing construction and home rentals, price is the signal by which demand is measured. Rent control either eliminates or severely distorts that signal. I’m going to predict that:1) fewer new homes will be constructed and 2) rents will sky rocket where it’s possible (tenant turnover).
I'm going to predict that governments go this direction because of all the problems the housing market economy has caused.
Such as?