HomeTenants' Union of NSW
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Rent control and housing justice

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: Finisterra, 2020.Description: 18 pagesISSN:
  • 04305027
Subject(s): Online resources: Summary: In this article I explore the question of rent control: one of the most despised yet misunderstood policies across a variety of disciplines and professions concerned with urban and housing issues. The hegemonic view is that rent controls – in any form, in any context – will eventually hurt those on whose behalf they are supposedly introduced (people struggling to find somewhere affordable to live). I use the concept of agnotology – the study of the intentional production of ignorance – to demonstrate that this view is riddled with vested interests and grounded in deep contempt for state regulation and in veneration of the supposed “efficiency” of the “free” market. I expose and dissect three of the prevalent myths of rent control: (1) that it negatively affects the quality of rented properties; (2) that it negatively affects the supply of housing; and (3) that it leads to ‘inefficiencies’ in housing markets. I take a close look at different kinds of rent control and, more broadly, at what leads to high housing costs, and by doing so I shift the analytical and political focus towards the urgent question of housing justice.
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KEYWORDS: Rent control; housing; agnotology; displacement; housing justice

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