“So, why are Minneapolis and Saint Paul simultaneously gentrified to the hilt, plagued with blight, and devoid of “affordable housing” in 2041?”
Do you suppose anyone will make the connection?
I mean, the odds of people getting smarter between now and then don’t look great…
But rent control didn’t work before because the right people weren’t running it, right?
Property tax increases alone exceed the cap by at least 5%. The inevitable consequence of this will be the consolidation of rental housing by corporations. That never ends well
Think housing is tight now? Hold my beer.
I can hear the fascists at Black Rock, cackling now.
(Un)intended consequence coming your way – after rental unit disappear off the market, those rich motherfuckers who dared to own their own home will be forced to let the less fortunate victims occupy a designated portion of their home – for free. Oh, and you will have to feed them too, you capitalist, property-owning pig! Areas around Capitol Hill and Mac/Groveland will be exempt of course.
Anytime you want less of something, put price controls on it. Very sad for low income renters.
I own a few rental properties (but not in Minneapolis or St. Paul because even 10 years ago I knew we didn’t want to be subject to the whims of those City Councils), and our practice is to raise the rents each year only to reflect any increase in property taxes. If there’s no property tax increase, we keep rents level with existing tenants; good tenants are more important than chasing the market rents.
When we have a unit open up, the new rents do reflect the market. If this new regulation were in effect for our properties, and assuming we didn’t then decide then decide to sell out to someone with deeper pockets, I would likely build-in a “proactive” price increase to offset future limitations.
In short, our prices are going up.
Back in 2002 – 2007, I had two rental houses in south Minneapolis, just over the border from Richfield. I was really lucky, because I got excellent tenants in both houses. I did the same thing as Night Writer; tied rent increases to increases in property taxes. It turned out to be a good strategy. One couple was transferred to Kansas and the other bought a house in Elk River. When I did their final inspections before they left, I was blown away. Both places were so clean that you could have eaten off of the floors, all of the nail holes from their pictures and art work, were invisible, because they were well patched and repainted. I ended up selling both houses, rather than re-rent them.