ABSTRACT
The 1994 Rental Housing Study argues that rent stabilization has had very different consequences depending on whether the housing market was inflation driven, demand driven, or recession driven. Los Angeles presents perhaps the purest example of moderate, second-generation rent control in a very large American city. The ordinance covered all rental housing in the city, with the principal exceptions of single-family homes, “luxury” apartments, and housing constructed after October 1,1979. In 1978, the council members embodied a range of views from conservative to liberal, and it was clear that to secure eight votes for rental regulation would require compromise. The 1984 Rental Housing Study, conducted under the auspices of the Rent Stabilization Division of the City of Los Angeles’s Community Development Department, attempted to provide a comprehensive review of the impacts of the system during the preceding five years.
