In his Friday letter, Brian Adrian claimed corporations were making an “outrageous amount of profit” on rentals, and rent control was thus needed. Of course, no evidence of that profit was provided. It’s just an opinion and not a fact.
Overlooked in the rent-control discussion are all the mom-and-pop property owners with one, maybe two houses for rent that would also be impacted. They are contributing to the housing supply and helping to deal with the affordable housing shortage.
It is always assumed that a profit of some sort is being made and property owners should be punished. After paying for a business license, mortgage, property tax, maintenance, insurance, property management commission and HOA fees it is very likely there is little profit. Even if there was a profit after those expenses, the profit is often wiped out by depreciation and income tax.
Rental rates, like the cost of everything else, are driven by supply and demand. If property owners get greedy, they would lose income and possible profit while their property stood vacant.
