The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down a major property-rights challenge to rent control laws in New York City and elsewhere that give tenants a right to stay for many years in an apartment with a below-market cost.
A group of New York landlords had sued, contending the combination of rent regulation and long-term occupancy violated the Constitution’s ban on the taking of private property for public use.
The justices had considered the appeal since late September. Only Justice Clarence Thomas issued a partial dissent.
Given how rapacious landlords have been for all of history, I’d be curious to hear your reasoning.
To get an answer as to whether or not the actions of the city are constitutional.
Not every case has enough legal merit for the Supreme Court. Given that they declined the case, the obvious signal is that it’s allowed.
This is good. Rent control is a local issue and I don’t see a need to involve the federal government.
The supreme court only takes a few cases every year. When they turn a case down that is meaningless - they can take it again in the future or not. When they take one that is a signal, but they might not take this one only because they think they have enough else to do [and so won’t have time to do it justice].
Tenants are no better, and so there needs to be a balance. We need both landlord and tenant rights. They are in conflict, but the world needs both (remember that public housing just makes government the landlord)
Tenets breaking rules and being shitty mean that landlords lose on their investments (which inherently carry risk).
Landlords breaking rules and being shitty means that people go homeless, live in awful conditions, or cannot afford basic necessities.
Sure, both sides have the capacity to be bad, but trying to “both sides” basic shelter is fucking wild.
Tenants breaking rules drives up the cost of rent for the good ones. When a landlord expects to have expensive maintenance (patching holes…) that gets priced into the cost of rent. If supply and demand doesn’t allow getting that much rent then they will sell and then no more landlords at all. Renting a house is the best option for some people, so we need landlords. Therefore we need them to make a small profit.
