Since the bill is all over the news, local and national, I won’t spend time discussing what it is (a 7% plus cost of living increase cap on rents plus a ban on no-cause evictions), rather, here are some national quotes about our fair state:
Doug Bibby, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Multifamily Housing Council, said he didn’t doubt the existence of a housing affordability crisis in Oregon.
“However, SB 608 will worsen the imbalance between housing supply and demand by allowing for rent control across the state,” Bibby said.
“While the intent of rent control laws is to assist lower-income populations, history has shown that rent control exacerbates shortages, makes it harder for apartment owners to make upgrades and disproportionally benefits higher-income households,”
“But economists tend to agree that rent control makes housing problems worse in the long run.
Some say that by limiting the amount of rent landlords can collect, they will take the properties off the market, limiting the housing supply at a time when there already is a crunch.”
From the Source Weekly (Bend):
Quote from Republican Jack Zika, Redmond, OR:
“I am deeply concerned about the unintended consequences that will come with the Rent Control bill that passed out of the House chamber today. Rent Control harmed the very same people it was intended to help in places where this policy exists and raised the cost of living as well, such as San Francisco,” said Rep. Jack Zika, (R-Redmond), in his own press release.
And an opinion piece from NRtoday.com
“And lawmakers should make clear now that there will be no ratcheting down of the 7 percent plus inflation cap, as opponents fear will happen. Such backsliding will immediately chase away investors — who will rightly suspect that all provisions in SB 608 are subject to political whim — and send them to other states with greater predictability. The legitimacy and effectiveness of Oregon’s novel rent-control approach depends on legislators standing firm against pressure to lower the cap.”
