Rent controls propose using government regulation to solve the symptom—high prices—of a problem—a shortage of housing—which government regulation created in the first place....
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Surely, when San Francisco's politicians passed rent control laws they didn't intend to increase income inequality in the city. But that is what happened. Once again, we see the truth of Milton Friedman's old saying: “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results”...
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Excessive fees and regulations are the problem – high prices are just the symptom. We need the supply of housing to expand. Instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars dealing with the symptoms, our policymakers must remove the barriers to the construction of affordable housing – barriers which, in many cases, they are responsible for erecting....
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A new report from the Housing Affordability Institute shows that many of Minnesota's cities are overcharging homeowners for services and not complying with state law by failing to report on these charges. ...
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There goes the neighborhood. The last thing anyone wants on their block is an empty house. In fact, the city of St. Paul has a what to do about a "Vacant Building" page on its website with instructions for reporting unoccupied or abandoned properties for inspection. The City monitors vacant buildings to see if they are secured, if they are being rehabilitated, or if they should be torn down. If a building is not secured, the inspector can order the owner to secure it. In addition, if necessary, the City can board-up and secure the building. But what if the rundown property...
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Americans move around less than they used to. Research suggests that expanded occupational licensing requirements and more expensive housing have contributed to that. That is a problem for the US macroeconomy. ...
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State and local governments have caused the shortage of affordable housing in the Twin Cities. Now, they are looking at policies such as subsidies and rent controls to solve the problem they created. The answer to a problem created by fees and regulations is not more fees and regulations. ...
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We have a new ad running on 93X concerning high housing costs in the Twin Cities. You can only say so much in 30 seconds, so here are the facts we use in the ad and where they come from. ...
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If we are serious about making housing in the Twin Cities more affordable, we need to remedy the things that are making it unaffordable. These are excessive fees and regulations. We need to reduce both....
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If we want to see more affordable housing we have to look at the factors driving demand and supply. Simplistic explanations such as 'greed' only encourage counter productive policies like rent control. ...
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