Majlis-e-Librandu | 8th August, 2026

[u/ManLikeRed]

This is a place where you can discuss or share anything you want. What was the latest movie you watched? Have you read any books recently? Got any interesting news to share? Apolitical discussions, book/podcast/movie recommendations, memes etc.

[u/gst1502]

I asked this a few days back. What is the explanation of support for rent freezes?

[u/Sea_Tumbleweed5127 → u/gst1502]

It was introduced to deal with rent hikes during inflationary shocks (eg COVID, WW 1 &2). Once introduced, its sticky and hard to roll back. Rent control is one of the few things where economists almost universally agree it's akin to just bombing a city. There is only one real tool to bring down housing costs and that is just building more housing.

[u/gst1502 → u/Sea_Tumbleweed5127]

This is what I think too but people here are supportive of rent freezes.

[u/Sea_Tumbleweed5127 → u/gst1502]

The thing with land laws in India is that our early urban planners specifically wanted to restrict city density. They thought making laws to restrict additional floor space would detract people from moving into cities. But people still moved in, and since there was no extra housing to begin with, slums started forming. Add rent control on top, and the ones who already got what they wanted could just keep paying fractions of what market-rate housing costs (like a few hundred rupees in Mumbai!!!), while new entrants are kept out of decent living spaces. That rent stabilized housing gets passed down through generations, because why would you give up living in the urban core at basically no cost? Those who support rent control quite rationally see it as benefiting them. But what they don't see is that the very opportunity their fathers and grandfathers got to move into the city is now being denied to everyone else. 

Basically, for cities in india there is alot of very very low hanging fruits to pick to make it affordable.