Some More Problems With NY Cit's Rent Controls

See Silver's wrong on rent: Making regulations even more ridiculous by Nicole Gelinas of the NY Post. Excedrpts"

"Consider what Lopez had to say: “This legislation will help stabilize our working-class neighborhoods.” Well, no. Nearly a quarter of rent-regulated households earn more than $70,000 a year, showing how random a process it is.

Moreover, because rent regulation holds down apartment supply, lots of other poor people have to pay more. As of 2008, non-regulated tenants paid more of their income in rent — 31.9%, compared to 31.7% for stabilized tenants. Plus, their rents are higher — $1,200 a month on average, compared to $925 for regulated rents.

Silver stayed away from the poor, focusing on the middle class. “This legislation will help keep middle-class families from being priced out of their homes,” he promised. Does Silver seriously think that people earning $300,000 desperately need the state’s protection? Does he think that people with the resources to pay $2,500 or $2,800 for an apartment need the might of the state’s resources?

There’s no reason why middle-class people in the city should get special “protection” from, well, life. Everyone wants to live near a nice city, and in a nice place — that’s why prices go up.

Indeed, the city’s middle class seems to understand this, despite Silver and the best efforts of housing “advocates.” When I first wrote on this topic a month ago, I braced for negative comments when real-estate website Curbed tagged my piece. Instead, out of 14 relevant comments, only three favored rent regulations. “Anyone that is capable of basic reason can figure out supply and demand,” one commenter wrote. “These laws continue because of pandering, plain and simple.” Wrote another: “If you go to [The] Bronx or Brooklyn you will find a 2 bedroom renovated apt under $1300/month. Why does everybody have to live in Manhattan?”

Social activist Mary Jones said her job was to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Silver is doing exactly the opposite — keeping those lucky enough to be comfortably cocooned in a cheap apartment happy, while making rent difficult for the rest of us."