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Rent Stabilization is a Boon For Investment in Housing [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-05-31  

Why Anirban Basu is Wrong for Siding with Housing Developers

Anirban Basu’s piece in Maryland Matters attacks claims that Prince George’s rent stabilization protections are “more than [a] theoretical” threat to development. His article is wrong.

This is more than theoretical; while Anirban Basu worries about the effect of rent stabilization on greedy corporate developer’s pockets, thousands of Prince Georgians are living in undignified housing conditions and making difficult decisions about whether to afford food or shelter or medicine because they are paying unreasonably high rent prices.

Before the temporary rent stabilization (CB7) law took effect in April of this year , hundreds of county residents packed a council public hearing to demand that elected officials hear their despair at living in deteriorating housing while dealing with abusive landlords. These landlords had already degenerated the quality of life for many residents, including the most vulnerable populations. At the hearing, senior citizens shared their struggles with paying for rent hikes while living on a fixed income. Many were facing eviction and going to food banks for the first time in their lives – one 82-year-old grandmother had to move out of her home and sleep on her daughter’s couch. Is this the health, honor, and dignity that our local governments are obligated to offer elderly people?

A 10-year-old child also advocated for rent stabilization explaining that her parents are paying lofty prices to rent in a building with an extreme pest infestation that the landlord has refused to address. Why, she wondered, should her parents pay such high prices to live in such hazardous conditions? Basu should not worry about possible “household dangers and community shabbiness” because the reality is that landlords are already undermining tenants’ health.

Instead of worrying about the theoretical impact of rent stabilization on housing development (which according to numerous studies is not hindered), why don’t we worry about keeping our residents secure in the current housing stock amidst record-high homelessness and eviction rates? So-called concerns about construction development over residents’ lives are thinly veiled arguments made to protect the profits of a select few. To fight for the already overgrown pockets of a wealthy minority is especially immoral given the financial struggles of a massive portion of our residents who live in a county where the cost of living rapidly increases while the minimum wage remains at a steady $13 an hour.

Rather than peddling developer scare tactics, here are the facts. Rent stabilization only has positive impacts for the quality of life of our residents. All permanent rent stabilization laws have exception clauses that allow landlords to raise their rent above the cap as long as they can justify it with increased maintenance costs or to make needed repairs. Most - including even the one-year bill adopted in Prince George’s, include carve-outs for new construction so that the landlord can raise rents to an appropriate market level before stabilizing. The frameworks adopted in more than 180 jurisdictions across the country incentivize landlords to upkeep their buildings and ensure proper living standards for tenants.

While many will remain tenants for life, a rent stabilization law permits renters to better financially plan, allowing some of our County’s 40% renters the ability to buy a home. Prince George’s County took a significant step forward when nine council members and the County Executive voted to support stabilizing the lives of the County’s tenants for a year. Now it is time to make those gains permanent.

Erica Puentes Martínez

Research and Policy Analyst

epuentes@wearecasa.org

Jorge Benitez-Perez

Organizer

jbenitez@wearecasa.org

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/31/2172468/-Rent-Stabilization-is-a-Boon-For-Investment-in-Housing

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