Osman Keshawarz, an assistant professor of labor economics at the Center for Labor Education and Research (CLEAR) at the University of Hawai‘i–West O‘ahu, recently co-authored an article for a national publication on how rent control can help cities tackle the housing affordability crisis.
The article, “Rent Controls Work — but They Aren’t a Silver Bullet,” was published in July in Jacobin. The New York-based print magazine is released quarterly and reaches 75,000 subscribers, in addition to a web audience of over 3 million a month, according to its website.
Affordability, especially housing affordability, is the number one issue facing working Americans, including the people of Hawai’i, Osman said.
“In recent years, there have been a number of proposals for rent control as part of a package of policies designed to help control the skyrocketing costs of housing,” Osman said. “Most recently, this has been proposed by Zohran Mamdani, the front-runner candidate for Mayor of New York City. Rent control has been treated with hostility by members of economic and policy circles, and this article pushes back on those criticisms. The evidence we review show that rent control does in fact increase affordability and helps existing residents stay in their home, while most of the negative effects have failed to materialize.”
CLEAR Director Dion Dizon said from a labor history perspective, rent regulation is not simply a housing issue, but part of the broader struggle over the cost of living that has long shaped working-class life.
“Just as wage floors ensure workers receive a minimum share of the value they produce, rent controls can secure access to housing for those whose labor sustains a city,” Dizon said. “By curbing displacement and protecting working-class residents from being priced out by wealthier newcomers, rent regulation helps stabilize neighborhoods and preserves the social fabric on which urban economies depend.”
Keshawarz co-authored “Rent Controls Work — but They Aren’t a Silver Bullet” with Brian Callaci, chief economist at the Open Markets Institute and a visiting adjunct assistant professor of economics at John Jay College, City University of New York.