The Case Against Inclusionary Rent Controls Insights from the California Housing Disaster

by MacDonald, Peter

• ISBN13: 9798991851008
• ISBN10: 8991851002
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2025-04-22
• Publisher: BookBaby

Summary

This short book explains how California housing prices can be brought within reach of the millennial generation.
This book shows how State housing policy in California has forced most cities into imposing rent controls on new housing construction, with disastrous results, by causing California housing inflation far in excess of U.S. housing inflation.
A case study documents how much inclusionary rent controls increase the rents for the unsubsidized market rate units in the rent controlled project.
Another case study models how the increased cost of inclusionary rent subsidies embeds into the price level, creating $13 of increased housing cost for every $1 of rent subsidy bestowed.
This book describes housing policies that will enable a surplus small housing units that are affordable by design rather than by subsidy.

Author Biography

Peter MacDonald has a B.A. in Economics from the University of Montana, 1969, an M.S. in Urban Planning (1973), and a J.D. in Law (1975) from the University of Arizona. He has a lifetime of planning experience as an urban planner (Tucson, Salinas), City Attorney (Pleasanton 1982-1988) and private practice in land use and real estate law from 1988 to 2022. Peter was President of the Bay Area City Attorneys group in 1984, and numerous local organizations. Peter is the founder of the the Center for Sensible Housing Policy.