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Comment by jdxcode | Hacker News Reader

"I'd like to move out of my rent-controlled apartment in SF because my job is in Mountain View, but I don't want to walk away from this rate."

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We're talking about Berlin.

It's just a temporary short term fix. Like opioid pain killers, over time the downsides massively outweigh any benefits.

Exactly, it's a pain killer. It's about making people shut up and stop talking about the problem.

It's not that simple. Opioids are used all over the world, only in the USA did they cause a crisis. Countries with saner political systems shouldn't judge policies by how they worked in the USA.

"I'd like to move out of my rent-controlled apartment in Spandau because my job is in Eberswalde, but I don't want to walk away from this rate."

For every one person in that situation, there are nine who can't move out of their rent-controlled apartment, not because they don't want to walk away from their rate, but because they can't afford to.

Well-off-techies who somehow stumbled into both getting a grandfathered rent controlled rate, and a job in the next city over might be a majority of posters on HN[1], but are a tiny minority of the population. You probably shouldn't be basing overall public policy around them.

[1] I personally think it's unlikely.

When there's more movement in a market, it's easier for supply to increase and prices to stabilize.

> For every one person in that situation, there are nine who can't

I'd be interested to know the actual numbers, but I doubt they happen to be 90%.

That could happen if the Mietendeckel is made permanent and the Abgeordnetenhaus refuses to do its job and adjust it as necessary for a few decades. In reality, your strawman is not realistic.

You would be able to if apartments in Mountain View were also rent-controlled.

Huh? Give one example of a working transfer of the rent controlled apartment from one jurisdiction to another.

Even if there was rent control both places, you'd have to find a rent controlled apartment in the new place. And in reality, you can't, because nobody is willing to leave their rent controlled apartments in the next place either.

What does "transferring an apartment" mean? We aren't talking about rent-controlled caravans.

Indeed, every apartment in Mountain View is rent controlled by municipal ordinance. But it only applies to increases on existing tenancies; when someone moves out, the landlord can charge whatever they want to the new tenants.

Pure lotto to get a rent controlled building. The whole problem with rent control, is there is always a limited supply and you can't use dollars to vote where more supply should be made. Market forces determine where new construction should go cause its profitable to do so. Otherwise you just have to hope you can get a house and if you can't you are out of luck

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