Host Cara Stern is back from parental leave, and she and Mike are jumping right into one of the most debated topics in housing policy — rent control. Inspired by Zohran Mamdani's campaign rent freeze proposal, they dig into how these rules shape the housing market, not just for landlords and tenants, but for entire cities. While rent control offers stability and predictability for those lucky enough to have it, it can also quietly freeze people in place — making it harder to move for a new job, grow a family, or even downsize later in life.
In this episode, they explore how rent control affects mobility, opportunity, and fairness between long-term renters and newcomers. From young families trying to upsize to seniors staying put in oversized apartments, Cara and Mike unpack the tradeoffs behind this well-intentioned policy. Is rent control helping affordability, or holding cities back from building the housing we actually need?
Chapters:
01:00 Introduction
01:19 Zahran Mamdani's rent control policy overview
01:44 Rent control explained
02:19 Mike gives an example of how rent control locks people into place
05:20 How being locked into place effects family planning
07:28 How being locked into place effects seniors downsizing
09:34 Rent control hurts people who need to move
10:03 The distributional consequences of rent control
10:45 How newer tenants subsidize newer tenants
12:39 Cara proposes an NIMBYism theory
13:21 Mike counters with “unintended consequences”
15:18 If rent control disappears mobility increases
17:36 Should rent control be abolished in Ontario?
Research/links
Housing Market Spillovers:
Evidence From The End Of Rent Control In Cambridge Massachusetts
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w18125/w18125.pdf
Stats Can data:
Housing suitability of private household
Rent controls do far more harm than good, comprehensive review finds
Rent controls do far more harm than good, comprehensive review finds — Institute of Economic Affairs
Renters’ shelter costs by duration of tenancy
Renters’ shelter costs by duration of tenancy
Mamdani Seeks to Freeze Rents on Stabilized Units. What About the Rest?
Mamdani Seeks to Freeze Rents on Stabilized Units. What About the Rest? - The New York Times
The Misallocation of Housing Under Rent Control
The Misallocation of Housing Under Rent Control - American Economic Association rentcontrol.pdf
Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.
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