What if we control rental prices?

Written 

    Half of Puerto Rico's population does not have the means to purchase a home. Either because of the high costs associated with buying a property or because of the shortage of supply of properties. The government does little to help either. Unfortunately, this is despite the human right to adequate housing, which includes affordable housing as one of its elements. Housing is considered affordable when a household spends less than 30% of its income on housing-related expenses.

   

In Puerto Rico, 44% of people pay rent between $500 and $1,000. Approximately 34% of the population lives in rented housing. Recently, a group of experts opined that Puerto Ricans could benefit if we return to implementing a law that regulates rental prices in Puerto Rico, as was done until 1995 with the Rent Law.

Reasonable.2 His argument focuses specifically on the case of corporate landlords and the control they would have, if unregulated, over a human need such as housing.

    On the other hand, there are those who argue that it would be a mistake. It is argued that the old Reasonable Rent Law was the cause of the deterioration in Santurce and Río Piedras. This is because some property owners, who do not necessarily have it for profit, lose control of what they need to generate with the rent of the property to cover the cost of the mortgage, and decide to abandon it. In short, it seems to be a measure that can help, if it is done in a planned, balanced way, and considering all sectors. Since, it is a tool that would avoid the continuous displacement of people living in poverty levels, whose action indirectly creates more poverty.









Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.

Nelson Mandela

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