Rent Control and Public Housing

Rent control is a snare and a delusion for those who think it will actually help the poor. It reduces the supply of rental housing from the level that would otherwise have obtained, and the poor get the short end of the stick whenever there is a shortage of anything. Housing is no exception to this general rule. Nor is public housing a solution to the needs of the poor. Instead, it boomerangs on this sector of the population. The free enterprise system, with neither of these policies, is the last best option for the poverty stricken