As lawmakers consider legislation to strengthen and expand rent control in D.C., landlords and tenants concur on one thing: The pandemic has made the issue more urgent than ever.

But that may be their only point of agreement on the matter.

At a marathon hearing on the bill in the Council’s housing committee Monday, more than 170 renters, tenant advocates, activists, landlords, property managers and lobbyists signed up to share their frequently divergent views on how changes to the city’s rent control law could affect the city’s housing landscape. A second hearing is scheduled for Nov. 16.

The legislation, sponsored by Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau and Ward 8’s Trayon White, would give renter advocates what they’ve sought for more than a year: a tenant-focused overhaul of the city’s rent stabilization law, which restricts rent increases at older buildings across the city. They say the current law, passed 35 years ago, is riddled with exceptions that have allowed too many housing units to shed rent control protections, pushing low- and moderate-income residents out of the District.

Rent stabilization currently is only required at buildings with five or more units built prior to 1976. Annual rent increases at these buildings are capped at the rate of inflation plus 2% under current law, and property owners can exceed that limit when units become vacant, when they need to raise money for renovations, when profit margins fall below 12%, or when tenants agree to increases in exchange for upgrades.

Drawn directly from the platform of the progressive Reclaim Rent Control coalition, the proposed changes would cap annual rent hikes at the rate of inflation, expand the cap to thousands of additional housing units, and remove or restrict various tools that property owners have used to raise rents above the prescribed maximum.

If the bill passes, it would immediately subject more than 13,000 housing units to rent stabilization, most in small buildings, according to a new report from the business-backed D.C. Policy Center. An additional 26,000 units would fall under the law by 2033. The think tank estimates that today, 36% of D.C.’s rental units — close to 75,000 — are rent-controlled.

Landlords and real estate industry stakeholders fiercely oppose expanding rent control. Some of the city’s biggest landlords testified Monday that it will drive investment out of the city, sink property values and slash much-needed tax revenue as D.C. recovers economically from COVID-19.

“There could not have been a worse time to consider sweeping legislation of this type than during the economic catastrophe we’re facing from the pandemic,” said John Ritz, president of WC Smith, which controls nearly 10,000 apartment units in the District.

The D.C. Policy Center report says expanding and strengthening rent control could cut tax revenue for the District. Lowering rents reduces the income-generating capacity of buildings, making them less valuable and lowering their tax burden, according to the center’s director, economist Yesim Sayin Taylor.

“Over time, revenue losses would become significant,” the report says — as much as $134 million over the next 11 years.

But supporters say landlords and business interests have overstated the downsides of rent control for decades, and the city risks displacing much of its workforce if housing costs continue to rise long-term.

“We need to make the District of Columbia affordable for workers and their families, who fill all different roles in our economy,” said At-Large Council member Elissa Silverman, a member of the Council’s housing committee, during Monday’s hearing. “Many say [rent control] is the only way they can remain in our city right now.”

Lawmakers attempting to craft a rent control bill that pleases both tenants and landlords face a Herculean task, particularly as the pandemic ratchets up the stakes on both sides. Thousands of D.C. workers remain on unemployment benefits, months after the pandemic began, and they fear losing their homes once a citywide eviction ban expires. Many landlords doubt they’ll be able to recoup the rent that tenants haven’t paid during the crisis. Subjecting their buildings to rent control, they say, would ensure that those losses become permanent.

It’s unclear whether the bill has the votes it needs to pass the Council this year. But it may face a slightly easier road in 2021, after two new left-leaning Council members are sworn in. Both Christina Henderson and newly elected Ward 4 Council member Janeese Lewis George — who will replace the fairly moderate Brandon Todd — have expressed support for expanding rent control.

The measure has strong support from tenant advocates and organizers, who framed rent stabilization as a racial justice issue over hours of often intense testimony Monday.

“We cannot say that Black lives matter and be complicit in the continued displacement of Black people in the city,” testified Veronica Mosqueda, a senior tenant organizer with the Latino Economic Development Center. “The erosion of rent control has greatly contributed to the displacement of Black communities, of the breaking up of Black families and Black neighborhoods in D.C.”

Affordable housing advocates say landlords have used exceptions in the current law to chip away at the city’s rent-controlled housing stock over time. Analysts disagree on how many rent-controlled units the city has lost since 1985, with estimates ranging from around 10,000 to more than 50,000.

Representatives of the real estate industry testified that strengthening the law could squeeze an already tight housing market. Opponents emphasized potential impacts on small landlords, many of whom would become subject to rent control if the bill passes. Housing providers who own four or fewer units are exempt from rent control now, but Nadeau and White’s legislation only exempts owners of three or fewer units.

“Anything that will that will stifle my ability to increase rent gradually, should I face any hardship, will cripple me and honestly put me in a position of foreclosure in about no time,” testified real estate investor Rody Damis, a member of newly formed trade group the Small Multifamily Owners Association.

Some critics of the bill said the best solution to high housing costs isn’t limiting landlords’ profits, but providing more housing subsidies.

“Many people can’t afford food, but the government doesn’t create price controls on food producers or grocers. They provide food stamps,” said Michael Miller, a principal with the Gelman Companies.

Housing Committee Chair Anita Bonds has attempted a compromise by introducing several bills that tackle pieces of Nadeau and White’s omnibus legislation. Advocates say a comprehensive package is needed to address multiple related problems within the current law.

As the debate rages on, housing providers say they can’t withstand any new restrictions on rental income, as the pandemic risks driving urban apartment dwellers out of D.C. — an existential threat to their business.

“Remote working during the pandemic has made it abundantly clear that people no longer need to be in the city,” WC Smith president John Ritz said in testimony. “The outmigration has already begun.”