A Quick Fix for the Affordability Crisis

The State of Oregon's first-in-the-nation rent control bill caps annual rent hikes to seven percent (plus inflation), and is one of the quickest ways to alleviate pressure on housing affordability.

While other states have rent control laws in place that cities can opt into, Oregon's new rent control law is statewide. A recent joint report tackles how rent control can improve the overall health of communities, foster greater affordability, and finds that 42 million renter households could be stabilized if rent control is adopted nationally. Advocates in the states of Illinois and Washington, along with cities like Philadelphia are pushing for rent control legislation, and in New York, which already has rent control, policymakers are looking to close loopholes.

Sarah Treuhaft, report author and advocacy group PolicyLink director, tells Fast Company, “No one policy can solve the housing crisis, but rent control can quickly stabilize prices and halt rent gouging."

Here are just a few astounding facts about renting a home in the U.S. in 2018: Median rents have increased 32 percent between 2001 and 2015 (not including utility costs), while salaries have flatlined. Around 80 percent of low-income people pay more than half their income on rent (the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development classifies an outsized rent burden as more than 30 percent of someone’s salary). And this affects a lot of people: The majority of people living in 42 of the 100 largest cities in the U.S. (and a growing proportion in rural areas) rent their homes.