Word: control
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...first glance Proposition 1-2-3 does not seem to be an anti-rent control referendum. Its first part allows tenants who have lived in rent-controlled apartments for two years to buy them. The second part exempts owner-occupied units from rent control should the owner move out temporarily. And the third part suggests that extra tax revenue garnered from the sale of rent controlled units should be used to increase the supply of affordable housing...
Proponents of the proposal act as if the issue isn't rent control at all. "Support Choice--Support 1-2-3," read the signs. A flyer from a pro-1-2-3 group asked wrongly, "Did you know that home ownership is illegal in Cambridge?" These and other claims of the campaign have been deceptive...
Proponents of 1-2-3 counter that owners will offer discounts to tenants, who are the only ones able to buy from them. A landlord would sell a $100,000, unit at $75,000, because under rent control it is only worth $30,000, the theory goes...
...proposal will adversely affect low-income tenants in another way as well. A reduction in the supply of rent control apartments will force more people to the market of non-rent controlled apartments. More demand there will mean higher rents across the city. No wonder the Cambridge Tenants' Union opposes...
THERE are problems with rent control that need to be addressed. It is a shame that much of the political debate has focused on Proposition 1-2-3 and not on how to refine rent control or replace it with a fairer system...