{"id":2238,"date":"2026-08-06T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cmpa.us\/?p=2238"},"modified":"2026-10-12T10:31:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T17:31:51","slug":"rent-control-failures-revealed-in-new-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cmpa.us\/index.php\/2026\/08\/06\/rent-control-failures-revealed-in-new-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Rent Control Failures Revealed in New Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Original article by Graham Norwood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A new analysis reveals the weaknesses and sometimes failures of rent controls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jenevieve Treadwell \u2013 a policy fellow at the London School of Economics \u2013 has written\u00a0on the Red Brick housing policy website.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She says that while rent controls are obviously attractive to tenants, they are not a\u00a0genuine solution to the broader housing crisis \u201cbecause they fail to address why\u00a0housing is expensive in the first place: scarcity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a detailed article she says that controls have been tried in many countries over the\u00a0past 75 years or so, and are typically varied when unintended consequences appear.\u00a0Specifically, Treadwell says: \u201cAnalysis of rent control has tended to find that it damages\u00a0the supply of housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPartly this happens by discouraging construction, but it falls just as readily through\u00a0removal of existing stock from the market.\u00a0\u201cHowever, there is some disagreement about whether this is a fundamental problem of\u00a0rent control or a problem that can be designed out of the system.\u00a0
\u201cDisagreement tends to flow from differing analysis techniques, time periods and\u00a0metrics.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She cites examples in Spain, Germany, Norway and the United States and highlights\u00a0the non-financial consequences of such controls.\u00a0She explains: \u201cRent control breaks the usual link between income and housing choice,\u00a0in which people weigh space, location and amenities against what they can pay.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis gives incumbent tenants greater security and less pressure to move. For\u00a0supporters, that\u2019s a good thing as it prevents gentrification.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut it also means tenants have every reason to stay put even when their needs\u00a0change.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn empty-nester keeps the three-bed flat; a growing family doubles up in bedrooms\u00a0rather than lose their discounted rent.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She goes on to say that the inequalities produced by rent controls become \u2018baked in\u2019 \u2013\u00a0sometimes rent-controlled properties can even be inherited by a tenant\u2019s surviving\u00a0family after death.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And she concludes that rent control \u201ccan\u2019t prevent housing being scarce, no matter how\u00a0many times the design is refined.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a closely argued piece and you can read it in full\u00a0here: https:\/\/redbrickblog.co.uk\/2026\/08\/the-trouble-with-rent-controls\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Original article by Graham Norwood A new analysis reveals the weaknesses and sometimes failures of rent controls.  Jenevieve Treadwell \u2013 a policy fellow at the London School of Economics \u2013 has written\u00a0on the Red Brick housing policy website.\u00a0 She says that while rent controls are obviously attractive to tenants, they are not a\u00a0genuine solution to… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2237,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-housing-crisis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmpa.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmpa.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmpa.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmpa.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmpa.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2238"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cmpa.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2242,"href":"https:\/\/cmpa.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2238\/revisions\/2242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmpa.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmpa.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmpa.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmpa.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}