We are joined again by two longtime DC rent control experts: K. David Meit, CPM, principal at Oculus Realty, LLC, and Mark Policy, attorney at Greenstein DeLorme & Luchs, P.C.
Mark, do you think rent control laws have done more harm or good for DC renters? For DC landlords?
The focus should be on maintaining and improving the availability of housing, not on tenants and housing providers. The main problem with rent control in the District of Columbia is that it does not distinguish among renters – rich renters, poor renters, old renters, young renters, renters on Connectic
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David, what do you think?
Rent control has only been good for the politicians. Neither housing providers nor renters benefit. DC rent control generally applies to rental housing built in or before 1975. Due to this, the largest stock of affordable housing is slowing falling apart due to age. With no incentive to invest
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In addition, due to the lack of any means testing, many high quality apartment homes in desirable neighborhoods are often rented at the fraction of their market value to those who least need it, such as first year associate at law firms earning over $100,000 per year. Teachers, firefighters and police rarely get the opportunity.
Mark, is rent control likely to go away in DC anytime soon?
No. Few attorneys use the unqualified answer “no”, but I just did.
David, what are some feasible steps we could take to improve the rent control situation for DC renters and landlords in the near term?
Housing is not an entitlement. However, society has collectively agreed it has an obligation to help those in need. Because of this, government is responsible for providing affordable housing. In DC, rent control unfairly singles out a specific set of housing providers (those who own pre-1973 building) and forces them to offer below market (and often below cost) housing. Government is shirking its responsibility under the current rent control regime.
To improve DC rent control, the City Council should look no farther than New York City. For example, NYC has preserved affordable housing for seniors through its Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) program that reduces property taxes dollar for dollar in return for keeping rents affordable. In this case, the cost is born by the government (through reduced tax income), not the housing provider. In 1997 NYC also enacted means testing and high rent exemptions.
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Read Part I of our interview on DC Rent Control.
Have questions for our experts? Contact David here and contact Mark here.
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