Kamala Harris wants to raise your rent

The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

The housing policies of the Biden administration did nothing to reduce high rents, and a potential Kamala Harris administration would likely do even worse.

Shortly before withdrawing from his candidacy for a second term, President Biden attacked what he called “corporate landlords”, blaming them for rising rent prices.

Rent is defined as the price paid for the use of a real asset. As such, rent, like all prices, occurs through the interaction of supply and demand. Blaming corporate greed is not accurate in the same way that Biden blamed generally high prices on rising prices and corporate greed.

Despite this, Biden announced a proposal that would penalize landlords who owned more than 50 properties with a 5% cap on annual rent increases. The feel-good solution was roundly condemned by high-profile economists, including some who worked by Democratic administrations.

Whenever a ceiling is put on any price, the result is always a shortage of the product. In that case, Biden's proposal would lead to fewer new rental properties being built, and there would be an increase in demand.

President Biden even started blaming property management software for everything. This software, produced by companies such as RealPage and Yardi, is used by landlords to determine fair prices for their tenants in each area. The president, angered by the high prices, blamed the people who reported what those prices were instead of the politicians who drove those costs up.

Harris has offered no indication that he intends to govern differently from Biden.

Not only does the vice president explicitly have it endorsed Biden's disastrous rent control scheme, but his Senate record of tax and spend, regulation and destruction on the issue confirms that it would only make the problem worse.

While serving in Congress, Harris sponsored the Rent Relief Act, which offered a tax credit to renters who spend more than 30% of their income on rent. This bill lacks even a basic understanding of supply and demand. Far from solving the problem, the legislation would only increase rental prices further by making more dollars chase the same number of properties.

Harris also did his best endorse an Oregon rent control measure last year that capped rent increases at 7 percent annually, 2 percent more than President Biden proposed last week.

Passing this proposal is something that even President Biden didn't do, but Kamala went for it. He wrote to X at the time that Oregon's governor “made it easier for families to stay in their neighborhoods by enacting statewide rent control, adding, “No one should have to choose between pay the rent every month or feed their children.”

Actually, Kamala, there's a good reason for that 93% of economists they say that rent control “reduces the quantity and quality of available housing.”

Take, for example, Kamala's old stomping grounds: San Francisco.

Seconds according to a paper by Eilidh Geddes and Nicole Holz of Northwestern University, the expansion of San Fran's rent control in 1995 led to an 83% increase in illegal eviction lawsuits. The supply of rental housing in the city decreased by 15%. as owners retired of the rental market in response to the policy.

Nothing has changed in the city in the last 30 years. At Stanford University in 2019 to study on San Francisco rent control found that, “as many of the existing rental properties were converted to high-end owner-occupied condominium housing and new construction rentals that are exempt from rent restrictions, the approval of rent control ultimately led to a housing stock that caters to people with higher incomes.”

Here's what the American public has to look forward to if Kamala becomes president: higher rent bills, fewer apartments to choose from, and a market that prioritizes penthouse suites over affordable housing.

If only we could none economist—Democrat or Republican—lives rent-free in his head, he might begin to respect the laws of supply and demand.

Unfortunately, however, some people never learn, and on this subject, Kamala is one of those people.

Dr. Michael Busler, Ph.D. is a public policy analyst and professor of finance at Stockton University, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in finance and economics.

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