I’ve been challenged to debate Councimember Kshama Sawant on rent control. I accepted the challenge and the debate is tentatively set for Monday, July 20th at Town Hall in Seattle. We’re still working out the details but please put the date on your calendar. We’d like to have people who don’t support rent control show up to the debate. 

I’ve written here before about rent control and also at Publicola. The bottom line is that rent control is an intervention in the housing market that feels good. Who doesn’t just want the cost of rent to just stop? The problem rent control doesn’t work to solve high rents; rent control makes housing prices go up. Also, the City Council can’t impose rent control anyway because they’re prohibited doing so by state law. 

While rent control is a popular idea it is a bad one for people needing a place to live, especially for poorer people with fewer dollars to spend and that don’t end up winning a rent controlled unit in what ends up being a rent control lotto. The best thing to do to alleviate housing price pressures is, of course, build more housing.  It’s time to get beyond the rent control discussion and work on real solutions. 

More details on the debate as we negotiate them.