Reply #1: I have often wondered about that. [View All]

[Cleita]

Back in the seventies when we voted in rent control in Santa Monica, landlords preferred to leave their buildings empty rather than rent at
less than the going market rate. It seems to me that such a loss of rent income would have dire effects like defaulting on their mortgages and such, yet many apartment buildings went empty for decades.

I came to the conclusion that they were being funded behind the scenes by groups of corporations to create a housing shortage and therefore get rent control abolished. It was something no one set out to prove but I have my suspicions.

I wonder about this too. Who is behind them covering their backs with money? Somewhere, somehow they are benefitting in the long run from any temporary losses they may incur.