Fe Fi Fo Fum Joe Wants Rent Control 4 All

Perhaps the most cynical if not goofy Biden campaign idea – one smelling like quickly rotting banana peels – is his new proposal to impose a nationwide rent control monster. Oh, goody, the entire USA can then mirror stinking, rotten DC & NY!

The WSJ editorial board was incredulous: “He [Joe] wants to cap rent increases at 5% a year, if you can believe it.” It’s another “classic White House policy contradiction: Subsidize housing, then discourage its development.” It’s complicated because it heavily affects developers & owners via the mind bogglingly obtuse Tax Code. And, while the editors go into the boring details, they conclude their disgust regardless of the details this way: “It’s hard to think of a worse idea than imposing rent control nationwide through the Tax Code. It would reduce investment in new supply & drive up rents in units not subject to government caps. Look at New York City where nearly half of units are ‘rent stabilized,’ and the average one-bedroom apartment costs $4,300 a month.” The District of Columbia also has a form of apartment rent control and the distortions between units covered and exempt can reach the hundreds of dollars, yet the city is perpetually saddled with an affordable housing crisis because (drum roll) what real estate developer in his or her right mind would build new units subject to DC’s own rent control monster?

So, how to explain this policy idiocy? Says the WSJ: “As Mr. Biden’s re-election prospects grow more dire, his policy lurches to the left are becoming ever more radical.” And, may we say, foolish?

Davd Soul