Dwain Northey (Gen X)

I know there are those out there that are opposed to governmental regulation on nearly everything, but those same people are the first to blame the government if thing go badly. Well at least if there are democrats in power if it is a republican’t it barely raises an eyebrow. I could reference the bank collapses of the past couple of days that are purely because of Trump era repeal of Dodd/Frank although the fact that the republicans disabled protections the rights (Reichs) talking heads are already placing the blame on President Biden.

Want I want to talk about is should there be a nation rent control? There was a covid provision that helped keep people in their rental homes in 2020 and 2021 and I am not proposing anything on the level. The fact of the matter is when that provision expired landlords gouged renters and many became homeless. I am currently a renter and from 2021 to 2022 my rent increased nearly 60% which for most is an unsustainable jump.

I understand that rental properties are a profit engine for large corporations as well as individuals that own rental properties but there has to be an equitable solution to keep that owners and renters happy. When inflation is 3% then raising rents by that much is not an unreasonable assumption even 5% if improvements have been made. Raising rents by 20/30/40% are excessive and unsustainable. Owners of apartment complexes protest that during covid they lost money, while neglecting to acknowledge that they were being subsidized by the federal government during that time that cover 75% of their lost revenue and that most residents paid their rent or a portion of it during the crisis. Home owner that have rental properties also received a bail out and 70-90% of those properties had renters that maintained their rent payments uninterrupted.

So why was it that as soon as the moratorium on evictions was lifted did these property owners gouge their tenants without remorse? The answer is easy because no one told them they couldn’t. These same people that may have lost 10-20% of their revenue in 2020-2021 made up 120% of that in rent increases in 2022 as well as evicting countless tenants. What did the evictions do to rent prices? It increased on those that could afford to stay in those properties.

Arizona Democrats are proposing a statewide rent cap on the percentage the a rent can be raised and already the Republicans are screaming foul. These same legislators pound their fists about the increase in the homeless population while turning a blind eye the what is causing it. SB1587 would cap rent increases yearly at 5% plus the cost of inflation or 10% whichever is lower. This is very similar to California’s law. Currently there are only 5 states that have a rent control provision in there law, 31 states preempt local governments from adopting rent regulation laws.

Housing is a basic human need in Maslow’s hierarchy of need the most basic is Physiological needs these are biological requirements for human survival, e.g., air, food, drink, shelter, clothing, warmth, sex, and sleep. Why is it that we can study these need and understand them but when it come to providing or insuring the need it is ignored. Our constitution states that our intention is Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. The first of these being Life and if shelter is not available or sustainable not only is Life threatened but the other two will not happen.

So, I am asking the Democrats in the Federal Government to put forward a bill enshrining a national rent control. When the Republicans cry socialism and I guarantee they will, filibuster them by reading from the book that they proclaim to follow there are plenty of passages about housing the stranger.