We Support Marin County Rent Protections – Here’s Why

We are in a housing crisis now in Marin County. High rents and low inventory are forcing our neighbors and friends either out of the county or into homelessness. The pandemic demonstrated that many of our low income workers are essential workers. We need them to have a home here. Older residents on fixed incomes are being especially hard hit. We support and urge the need for protections to be implemented in Marin County.

Many argue against rent stabilization programs under the belief that rent stabilization and tenant protections will reduce housing supply. Economic research has shown that well designed programs do not hurt supply. And, if it were the case that tenant protections hurt supply, Marin County should have the highest rate of housing production, not the lowest. Landlords have an enormous incentive to fight new housing development when there are no constraints to the rents they can charge.