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As Housing Costs Spike, Voters Look for Hope in Rent Control

Measures that seek to cap rent increases appear to be increasingly popular with voters in costly cities, reviving interest in a housing policy that most economists dismiss. 

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NAHB CEO Sees Best of Times, Worst of Times for Housing
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On election day, voters in three U.S. cities pulled the lever for a policy that’s often championed by progressives and tenant associations, and that sets many economists’ teeth on edge — rent control.

Minneapolis voters approved Question 3, an amendment to the city charter that makes a future rent control ordinance possible by satisfying an exception in state law; going forward, the city council can either enact a rent control ordinance directly or put the issue to voters in another ballot measure. Down the road in St. Paul, voters enacted one of the most stringent rent control policies in the nation. Question 1, which sets an annual cap on rent increases of 3%, was approved by a 6-point margin.