Why is government still in the apartment business?

The late, lamented (by me) New York Sun preached against rent regulation from its first issue to its last. The Democrat-led Assembly has just passed strong anti-landlord legislation, bringing rent regulation back in a big way. There's a good chance that the Urstadt law will be repealed and landlords will be at the mercy of Christine Quinn's political ambitions.

Hasn't this economic downturn taught us anything? New York government has long been corrupt, and now it's bankrupt. You don't want New York government running anything.The free, unregulated real estate market has worked just fine in almost every other city in the country.

From today's New York Times story:

“This is going to be very devastating,” said Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association, a group that represents thousands of landlords and real estate agents in the city. “New York City is the last big city in the country that has any strong form of rent regulation. And at a time when we have an economic recession, when rents are actually going down, this will put another nail in the coffin.”

But Democrats in Albany cheered what they said was a step toward making living in New York more affordable for working families.

“It’s a matter of fairness,” said Jonathan L. Bing, an assemblyman who represents the Upper East Side. “We’re trying to give people a way to live out their lives in the neighborhoods they’ve been calling home for decades.”

But Bing--what's unfair about the free market? What's fair about government-run socialism?

Fairness? I lived on East 57th Street, once the richest street in the world. My apartment building was under rent stabilization laws. Why? So "poor people" could live on the richest street in the world? The people who had those rent stabilized apartments often had second homes! As a person who bought his co-op, I had to subsidize much of this. The co-op sponsor went bankrupt and I almost lost my home because of these insane laws. What was that about "fairness," Mr. Bing?

Here's a simple fact of New York political life: There are more tenants than landlords. Many more tenants vote than landlords. So, if the New York City Council takes control of rent regulations, screwing the landlord is going to be where it's at. "Fair" housing for everybody!

Ultimately, of course, no one will want to become a landlord. No new housing will be built. No improvements to housing will be made. Government regulation will kill its golden goose.

This financial crisis means great opportunity for change. Higher taxes and more government regulation are not those correct changes. 

What a mess!

LINK:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/nyregion/03rent.html?ref=nyregion

Assembly Passes Rent-Regulation Revisions Opposed by Landlords