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Does Rent Control Improve Housing Affordability?

Last week, Oregon enacted the first state-wide rent control law in the United States. The law caps rent increases to more than 7 percent annually. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said the law will give “immediate relief to Oregonians struggling to keep up with rising rents.” But research paints a more mixed picture of rent control.

Here & Now‘s Robin Young speaks with Rebecca Diamond, associate professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She writes that rent control “appears to help affordability in the short run for current tenants, but in the long-run decreases affordability, fuels gentrification, and creates negative externalities on the surrounding neighborhood.”

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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