Reply to D.C. Attorney General Sues 14 Of The City’s Biggest Landlords For Colluding To Inflate Rental Prices

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Reply to "D.C. Attorney General Sues 14 Of The City’s Biggest Landlords For Colluding To Inflate Rental Prices"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Thanks for positing. This story will be invisible on housing twitter just like the original story about RealPage was. Anyone who claims to be an affordable housing advocate and doesn’t applaud the AG’s effort isn’t interested in affordable housing so much as they are in making sure landlords make giant profits. [/quote]

Name one housing advocate who's denounced this lawsuit. If they're not commenting on it, it's because breaking up a price fixing scheme doesn't solve the underlying problems that they're focused on. Even if the DCAG proves that there was a conspiracy among landlords - it's plausible - there will still be a housing crisis, just as there will still be NIMBYs trying to prevent anyone from doing anything about it.[/quote]

Have you even read the complaint? The companies were able to increase rents even as vacancies increased. That really calls into question your just build more housing slogan. Turns out building more housing won’t actually drive down pricing if landlords are colluding. [/quote]

[b]Then the solution is to stop the cartel[/b], not to throw up our hands and say “it’s hopeless because landlords will always break the law.” We know from comparing housing production rates among different cities that whatever cartel activity is going on, it’s not enough to prevent rent prices from plateauing in places that are building enough. Besides, building more housing isn’t just about lowering prices. It’s also about making homes for people who need them, closer to urban cores and job centers. Housing advocates see NIMBY reliance on this lawsuit for what it is: an excuse to justify the status quo.[/quote]

And yet YINBYs mobilize more effectively against next door messages than the cartel price fixing. How much have next door messages made rents go up?[/quote]

YIMBYs mobilize for changing policy. Price fixing is already illegal, so it’s a law enforcement matter. There’s nothing to “mobilize” for, except for the same policy problems that will be there even if cartel behavior is found and stopped. Problems like underfunded affordable housing programs, restrictive zoning laws, excessive car dependence… none of which NIMBYs want to do anything about.[/quote]

More Smart Growth developer talking points.  How much "affordable" housing is there in the uber-dense developments of City Ridge and adjacent properties?  A pitiful eight percent, and it's not really affordable.  Stop snookering people into believing that building more and more luxury flats will make any meaningful dent in affordable housing.  DC is letting the voucher program cannibalize rent controlled units that in fact provide affordable workforce housing.  The mayor's affordable housing policy is one baby step forward and two steps backward, while lining the pockets of well-connected developers and real estate speculators.[/quote]

Now you’re changing the subject. We need more of all types of housing. I take it you oppose rent stabilization and more funding for affordable housing?[/quote]

The YIMBYs would love to change the subject but we should all stay focused on the fact that tens of thousands of households overpaid for housing only because landlords illegally colluded. The landlords created the housing crisis. Not zoning or taxes or NIMBYs or any of your other favorite bogeypeople. [/quote]

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