To The Editor:
Re: “Fixing the Rent Law” (Downtown Express Letter, July 6, 2011).
DeSean Richard wrote against rent-stabilization stating that “this system is nonsense… all about politics… not good housing policy… should pay market rate just like I do.”
One must take great care in allowing for unchecked free markets, as it is often accompanied by greed that can take its toll in many ways. Stabilization is an important part of an anti laissez-faire capitalism movement in our country, starting with Hamilton and the establishment of the First Bank of the United States to tariffs to public works to child labor laws to Sherman’s Anti-Trust act to minimum wage. When government looks away from industry, the results can be devastating, as this most recent long-term recession has shown.
If our city’s landlords were to have their way with tenants, then unchecked, annual rises in rents might bring about a completely transient community, which is no community at all. For this primary reason, stabilization of all rentals is a welcome backstop against the disintegration of our neighborhood.
Tom Goodkind
