The Rent Is Too Damn High! Time for a Rent Freeze?

noun

1. a policy that prohibits landlords from raising rents

Sold! What’s the problem?

Critics warn that a rent freeze can actually make the housing crisis worse. Even if new housing construction is exempt, skeptics say the policy could discourage building in general as developers and investors scale back. Meanwhile, the real estate lobby argues that landlords would get squeezed by rising costs, which would lead to deferred building maintenance and more vacant units.

Wait. Then who supports it?

Warnings against rent control policies often come wrapped in dire metaphors about ​“destroying cities” and ​“halting investment,” but, politically, freezes are popular. More than three-quarters of voters support them, depending on the poll. Long term, we need more housing — but construction takes years and often faces fierce resistance. A thoughtfully designed freeze could protect renters against precarity while paving the way for a more comprehensive approach to the housing crisis.

In New York City, for example, more than 2 million people live in rent-stabilized apartments, but stabilization alone hasn’t kept working-class people secure. Under current rules, stabilized rents still increase annually; over the past decade, even regulated increases have outpaced incomes, pushing many households to the brink of displacement.

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani campaigned on a rent freeze policy paired with major public investment in affordable housing and relief on insurance and property taxes, making building maintenance less expensive for landlords without squeezing tenants. Proponents aren’t saying a freeze alone can solve the housing crisis, but it could unlock the politics of more long-term solutions.

So what’s the bigger housing strategy?

Any of the arguments against freezes rest on the shaky premise that a landlord’s profit should come before a tenant’s need for housing. But while landlords choose to enter the business, housing isn’t exactly optional. And entering an increasingly high-risk market doesn’t entitle anyone to guaranteed returns, especially when those returns come at the expense of housing for millions of people.

A rent freeze gives tenants immediate breathing room, builds trust and creates political space for the long-term work of building more housing — especially publicly funded, union-built, permanently affordable homes.

Tenant stability isn’t the enemy of growth; it’s the precondition. Because tenants can’t be asked to wait a decade for relief as rents go up every year.