With rent prices surging across the country, legislators are looking for ways to curb the surge and help tenants stay in their homes. State lawmakers have come up with different options for rent control legislation to help with the effort, including putting a limit on how much landlords can increase their rent.
For the most part, rental prices have been on the rise since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to real-estate broker, Redfin Corp., rental prices are up on average by 18 percent over the past two years. Most of these proposals restrict how much a landlord can raise rent by no more than two to ten percent in an effort to hold off any continued increase.
Many of Florida’s metropolitan areas are included within the areas across the country considering rental control measures. The rising rent costs are attributed in large part to the most recent surge in inflation that is hitting the nation, as well as a number of other factors.
Rental control is not a concept that is new to the U.S. economy. Rent control measures were common following both the first and second World Wars, as well as during the high inflation years in the 1970s.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans have faced serious economic struggles. Additionally, home prices have hit an all-time high in most areas of the country, making the housing situation even more difficult for those in the lower-income bracket. As a result, California, New York, and Oregon have introduced rent control bills.
Decades ago, real estate businesses successfully lobbied several states to enter anti-rent control statutes. Florida is one of those states that issued a ban on local rent controls. However, lawmakers in both Tampa and Miami are asking for a housing emergency declared to pass rent control to put a stop to rent increases of over 30 percent in the past year alone.
Landlords and building owners have steadfastly protested rent controls, claiming that they would hurt the growth of new housing and would end up making the rental market worse for both landlords and tenants. Despite these arguments, lawmakers, such as Florida state Sen. Victor Torres say that there is no other way to help renters with their high rent burdens. Torres is one of many legislators proposing to overturn the state’s current rent-control ban.
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