DEFENDING RENT STABILIZATION

In the District of Columbia, annual rent increases in apartment buildings constructed before 1975 are limited to inflation plus 2% for most residents (just inflation for those age 62 or older).

Most people commonly refer this law a “rent control,” but that is a misnomer referring to laws that lock rents at extremely low levels. The DC law simply mandates that rents can only increase by inflation plus 2% per year. This is properly known as “rent stabilization.”

The rental housing industry generally hates DC’s rent stabilization, because it prevents companies from gouging tenants and from driving up rents as high as possible every year.

The Van Ness South Tenants Association has long fought to defend the rent stabilization law in DC:

  1. Working successfully to end the “rent concession scam” scam citywide

  2. Advocating for the release of the legally mandated “rent control database,” which would slow rent increases by providing renters more information about the housing market

  3. Opposing vast overpayments to landlords by the city for apartments renting with housing vouchers, with overpayments now substantially exceeding $50 million. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development states that such overpayments squander funding needed for affordable housing and drive up market rents.

  4. Opposing deceptive practices by city authorities, like the official rent increase form that tricks renters into believing that rent increases are mandated by the city.

  5. Working with other tenant associations to defend rent stabilization.

  6. Lobbying city officials about the importance of rent stabilization for slowing the rising cost of housing in the city, and for slowing gentrification.