Opinionist: Rent Ceiling Elimination Good for Tenants?
Instead of just my coat rack greeting me last week, I had a letter from Borger Management, the company that manages my apartment building and dozens of others in the District. Usually, the only things that are slipped under my door are package pick-up notices and take-out menus, so I was suspicious. In a craftily-worded letter, the company gave a full-out endorsement of the D.C. City Council's possible elimination of the current rent ceiling regulations. In a rather slanted first sentence, the company asserts "For the first time in decades, the City Council
is improving the District's rent control laws." Improving, really? It was late at night, but I was already skeptical that my management company would be compelled to bring such good tidings to my door unless they were going to be benefiting in some way.
Theoretically, price ceilings, what the District now uses for "rent control", limit how high rent can go and aid in the amount of affordable housing available in an area. Various cities in the country have such systems in effect, but some cities, like Boston, have decided to revoke them altogether. Price floors, such as those applied to some agricultural goods in the United States, occur when supply exceeds demand and keeps prices from dipping too low. Looking past the public relations jargon of the management company, taking away limitations on how high rent can go seems like a bad idea. I've worked in press offices before and this letter was spun so tightly that I had a hard time figuring out truth from fiction; the tell-tale sign of some fine propaganda.
Management companies in large cities get away with far more than they should. Though I've been relatively pleased with my building, they have not been overly helpful or efficient with certain things. Prices in the DC area for rents are already sky-high, and many of the buildings get away with sub-par facilities and space because they can. The letter culminates in a summary, plus a statement of what the management company claims to be the obvious:
Under the new proposal, rent control will be based on what you pay in rent. The new law calls for an annual increase of no more than 6% of the current rent plus CPI, but never to exceed 100%. Low-income individuals, senior citizens, disabled persons and DCPS teachers would be subject to CPI increases only. Everyone can understand that. It is simple and straightforward. The current rent control law is incomprehensible to tenants and housing providers alike. They need to be made simpler and eliminating the rent ceilings is a good way to start.
To reiterate, the letter claims that "everyone can understand that". Condescending as such a statement may be, it fails to clarify is the difference between something being understood, and something that is actually a good idea for all parties involved. At the bottom of the letter was a plea to contact "your Council member and tell them that you support abolishing rent ceilings and the balanced rent control bill that passed the committee, and urge them to support the legislation". It was like a push-poll in letter form. It proceeded to list all the names, phone numbers and email addresses for everyone who sits on the District City Council. So, the intended outcome was for me
to be so filled with support for the rent ceiling elimination that I scurry over to my computer or phone to contact my council member, without so much as hearing the other side of the argument.
I don't see how repealing the current price ceilings is going to increase the amount of affordable housing for the area and help renters, though I can see that there are some flaws in the current system. Alas, knowing that rent control is a very complex issue and I myself not being a trained economist or a real estate consultant, I can't offer up any other solutions. But I do take issue with what is slipped under my door from my management company. I know I don't have to read it, but I shouldn't have to receive it, either.
If the management company decided to disseminate accurate information regarding both sides of the argument, fine, I'll take that. But who do they think they're fooling by acting all gung-ho about this repeal? Even Council member Jim Graham was quoted in the Washington Post as saying "The enthusiasm of landlords to abolish the rent ceilings makes me nervous". I deal with enough SPAM and junk paper mail that I don't need biased information slipped under my door in the guise of "this obviously benefits everyone involved".
It seems that for renters, the more time goes by, the more we pay and the less we get. Tenants, treat the property with respect. And management, realize that some of us aren't fans of being greeted with real estate propaganda at 10pm on weekday night. We're far more independent-thinking than you give us credit for.