‘Rent Control Is Missing Its Target’

Koss’ commentary offered a good, pragmatic argument against rent control. He is right, of course, that rent control does not benefit the group it was designed to protect (the poor), and that it unfairly singles out landlords to bear the burden of “subsidizing the needy.”

It is not surprising that rent control has proved economically disastrous. Any economist can explain that price controls will lead to shortages (yes, there is a reason for the chronic housing shortage in Manhattan--and Santa Monica).

What Koss fails to sufficiently realize, though, is that rent control is not just impractical or unfairly implemented--it is morally wrong. Property rights are among the most basic rights that all humans have. When the government steps in and tells people what to do with their property (i.e., how much rent they can charge) it violates those rights. It doesn’t matter if the majority of voters approve the action. The United States is a constitutional democracy where our freedoms and rights cannot be voted away. That is what distinguishes us from Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union--or at least it used to.

STEWART MARGOLIS

Inglewood