I’ve heard a lot more pro-prop 98 talk than I thought I would and I can’t help but think that this is a classic example of Americans voting against their best interest because they think that vote will somehow benefit an unlikely future condition. I don’t know about you but I don’t have any big issues with our current eminent domain laws and, as a renter, I kind of like rent control.
People seem to think that rent control is some sort of charity when really it is a limited market control that ensures some level of affordable housing for hard working individuals. No one seems to complain that air travel costs are regulated in a similar way except for those who own airlines. So why do so many people who don’t own houses oppose rent control? The answer is that Americans have a really bad habit of holding opinions based on a possible (although often unlikely) future condition for themselves. Basically, everyone thinks they are going to be rich someday, no matter how improbably that is, so they vote as if they are rich now. Everyone thinks they are going to one or more homes someday so they vote as if they own those homes now. These people think that rent control will hurt they future, mythical, income.
Without rent control I truly believe the city I live in, San Francisco, would not function because the working, lower middle class (that would be me), and probably the true middle class would slowly but surely be driven to the fringes of the city as they are forced to move out of their rent controlled apartments and homes because of any number of reasons (marriage, needing a larger place for children, roommates leaving, etc.) and eventually out of the city all together. And, with the poor job market coupled with food and gas prices quickly outstripping wages, those people will likely seek jobs closer to where they live to save where they can, which will essentially strip San Francisco of its labor force. If wages kept up with the cost of the living increase that will result from a completely free rental market then we would not have such a big problem but the fact of the matter is that wages do not keep up with cost of living these days.
Furthermore, for those of you who seem to think that you will own a home in San Francisco, killing rent control will only make that dream harder to attain because increased rent prices make for increased home prices and San Francisco proper home prices have not dropped to a more realistic level in the wake of the sub-prime debacle so removing rent control will only serve to buoy home prices at this artificially high level. If you make less than double median income say good bye to your San Francisco (or LA, or Oakland) dream home.
Finally, and I’ve heard this a lot, telling someone that if they can’t afford to live somewhere they should move is and age old and widely rejected argument against wage increases and rent control. The truth is that if large groups of people, and I am talking about a generally skilled and well educated workforce, can no longer afford to live in an area that have lived in for some then there is something wrong with the economy of that area and something, like rent control, should be done to fix that economy. The “just move” argument is as callous and elitist as it is stupid.
Having lived in two cities now with some level of rent control that I could not have lived in otherwise as new college graduate (putting me at an advantage over nearly 66% of the population) and now a mid-level white collar worker, even if I was a home owner I could not in good conscience or good sense vote for prop 98. Please vote no on Proposition 98.
Go to SmartVoter.org and find your polling place and vote on June 3rd.