Lubbock Times

House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) issued a statement today regarding President Biden’s plan to implement rent control policies nationwide.

"Rent control has been a disaster in cities across the country like New York City, causing housing costs to explode, quality to decline, and the construction of badly needed new, affordable homes to plummet," said Arrington. He continued, "President Biden’s plan to nationalize a policy that has produced nothing but failure at the local level is unsurprising. Like a lot of 'progressive' policies, rent control has been proven time and again to hurt the very people it was intended to help the most."

Arrington argued that government intervention is not the solution to the housing shortage. "The solution to our housing shortage isn’t more government intervention, it’s less," he stated. "Price controls, federal and state regulations, and local restrictive zoning laws only squeeze the supply side; while, at the same time, federal subsidies are artificially boosting demand. This is just another inflationary policy out of the Bidenomics playbook."

Since President Biden took office, rent has increased nearly 22 percent and the average sale price of houses has risen by almost 30 percent. According to Arrington, "President Biden’s rent control scheme will not fix the high rent prices caused by Bidenflation but will add more big government hurdles to overcome."