Rent Control
In the first decade of this century, New York City was facing a housing crisis. The great influx of immigrants from all over Europe had created a seller's market, and tenants (who previously could protest objectionable actions on the part of their landlords by simply moving) were left with few options. Families of eight or more members were sharing tiny three room apartments and paying up to 100% of their income on rent. Landlords would raise the rent every month, and tenants lacked the protection of long-term leases.Tenants created informal groups they called "tenants unions" and started "rent strikes," refusing to pay increases. They distributed leaflets encouraging others not to rent from "bad" landlords. By the winter of 1907-08 widespread rent strikes hit Manhattan and Brooklyn, and tenants from New Jersey were looking to New York as a model. There were few long-lasting effects of these early movements and no regulatory response, however.World War I caused the next serious housing crisis in New York City as war efforts had a monopoly on building materials and severely limited the building of new housing and the improvement of existing housing. Tenants continued to live under the threat of huge rent increases and eviction
When Massachusetts landlords wanted to do away with rent control (which existed in any form in only three cities, and in its most restrictive form only in Cambridge), they knew they would fight a losing battle if they went after rent control on a local level (in fact, they already had), so they used an ingenious method to eliminate it: they called for a statewide law banning all forms of rent control. There are many groups who argue that rent control no longer serves the purpose for which it was originally instituted (if it ever did) and, in fact, has a negative effect on housing for lower income tenants. In April of 1920, in response to organized efforts of political parties and labor unions, New York passed emergency rent laws giving tenants limited protection from rent increases and eviction. There are, however, two major types of rent control in the U. Despite requests by the tenants' friend, Mayor LaGuardia, New York was initially not qualified under these laws as its vacancy rate was too high. Property which was originally purchased as an income source can quickly become a money pit, and often the first people to suffer are tenants who can't get the landlord to do simple repairs due to lack of return on the investment. As with vacancy decontrol, acceptable annual rent increases are limited to a certain percentage of the previous rent or a certain percentage of the CPI. Once rent control exists in a given area, however, it is very difficult to repeal it, and the reason is simple: the majority of residents in the area are probably tenants either benefitting from the system or hopeful of benefitting in the future. In recent years, rent control laws, which were slated to expire in the City, were renewed once again due to extreme political pressure from a population still benefiting from them. By the late 1920s, however, increases in available housing caused most rental units to be exempted from these laws, and the laws eventually expired. A tenant looking for a new home who is lucky enough to find a rent controlled unit, therefore, will likely pay under market value (often well under) for her new home. Rent control also often brings with it restrictive regulations on the eviction of tenants. World War II brought yet another housing crisis to many of America's cities, and this time the federal government stepped in passing emergency laws putting a ceiling on rents in many large cities. During the early 40s, tenants' issues also had their first major impact on political campaigns, and AFL and CIO forces took over tenant advocacy, eventually getting the federal government to include New York as a "War Rental Area. "Since it was first implemented, rent control has never really left New York City as tenant, civil rights, and labor organizations have used the power of a large voting population to affect local and statewide elections and local policies.
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