Rent Control Is Making Its Way Onto the November Ballot as Housing Costs Soar Across the U.S.
As disgruntled tenants lobby for rent control in a high-cost housing market, new residential policies are making their way onto the ballot this November, Fortune reports. Soaring rental costs, runaway inflation, and a dwindling supply of affordable housing units are opening up conversations about new regulations that could limit rent hikes which are exacerbating an existing affordability crisis.
In markets like Orange County, FL, voters will consider a ballot initiative that seeks to limit rent increases to the annual increase in the consumer price index, and similar measures are finding their way into regional elections all across the U.S.
Last year, voters in St. Paul, Minnesota, passed a ballot measure capping rents at 3% a year while residents across the river in Minneapolis backed a measure allowing the city council to enact a rent control ordinance.
This summer, Kingston, New York, became the first upstate city to enact rent control. The measure means around 1,200 units — buildings built before 1974 with six or more units — must limit rents to a percentage set by a rent guidelines board.