Economists are virtually unanimous in the conclusion that rent control is destructive. In a poll of American economists in the late seventies, 98 percent agreed that "a ceiling on rents reduces the quantity and quality of housing available." The agreement cuts across the usual political spectrum, ranging all the way from Nobel Prize winners Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek on the "right" to their fellow Nobel Laureate Gunnar Myrdal on the "left." Swedish economist (and socialist) Assar Lindbeck asserted: "In many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city—except for bombing."

The Massachusetts experience, described below, shows rent control in action – and what happened after it was repealed.

On this page:

2005

Election victory in Boston! 
Voters preserve Boston City Council 8-to-5 majority against rent control. Another SPOA victory.

 

2004

Boston City Council defeats Rent Control
8-to-5 vote is thanks to SPOA

 

2003

Cambridge voters slam rent control
Our historic defeat of rent control in Cambridge.

What we told Boston voters
We convinced all Boston's homeowners that rent control was bad for them and the city

 

WHAT are they complaining about
Big fuss by middle-class tenants

 

What ARE the rents?
Newspaper ads are skewed to high rents

Ending rent control (1995)
Study shows diversity up, not down!

Rent control: A quiet end (1997)
Lessons from Massachusetts.

Finally, anti-rent control view hits national media
6 minutes.

 

STUDIES and OTHER VIEWS on rent control

A Year of Deception. Expiring-use rent control
Legal service lawyers and public officials conceal federal laws

Federal law prohibits expiring-use rent control
Conspiracy to hide the truth? 

Archives:

Crazy condo law is BACK-DOOR RENT CONTROL
Legal services at it again!

Small property owners in California
Struggles with rent control

Rent control repeal fizzles in New York
A sad story of near-defeat

Bolognas “win” bankruptcy

The continuing story of Cambridge rent control’s worst horror story