Why rent control is more helpful than affordable housing alone

One presidential candidate is speaking up for people who are not traditionally among reliable voters. Cornel West -- scholar, activist, public intellectual, and theologian -- has called for "housing justice" for renters paying high rent-to-income and the homeless as part of his presidential campaign. The call for a federally backed cap on rent is part of that.

West started by urging the Seattle City Council to pass rent control legislation introduced by Councilwoman Kshama Sawant. Last week, however, 6-of-8 council members voted it down. It was a decision that ended an opportunity for the city to accommodate more of its residents.

Speaking of accommodation, Seattle was the place I first used accessible crosswalks. The signal to walk was automated, so it required no push of a button; and a chirping bird sounded for an audible queue to cross. That was in 2000 or 2001. Nowadays, the visual-and-auditory automation of crosswalks isn't uncommon in the commercial centers of major U.S. cities.

Except for its well-to-do, upwardly mobile, or financially stable residents, though, I consider Seattle a non-livable city. I've had the impression that it's somewhat like Silicon Valley and the Bay Area: a pricey region that, in part, attracts transplants in well-paying and high-demand fields. In recent years, I've coupled that impression with one that it's another costly West Coast city with rampant homelessness.

I've even come across the hint of homelessness there in contemporary fiction. Barry Eisler -- thriller novelist and former Ivy League-trained attorney -- depicts a homeless character in the action scene(s) of at least one of his Livia Lone books and another in The Chaos Kind (which I intend to finish). Both are set in Seattle. In contrast, I don't recall the presence of a homeless character in The Killer Collective or A Clean Kill in Tokyo. Both are set in Japan.

Maybe my impression of its affluence was not unfounded. Based on earned income alone, half of all households in Seattle bring in more than $105,000 a year (2017-2021). To put it another another way, 50% of households in Seattle bring more than $35,000 above the national median. Further, its poverty rate (10%) in that period is slightly less than the national average (11.6%).

So why would I say rent control for residents of this prosperous city, for example?

1. When adjusted for cost of living, 10% may be an underestimate for poverty there.
2. The low poverty rate may disqualify rent-burdened households from affordable housing subsidies or programs (i.e. Section 8 or public housing).
3. The majority of its housing units (54.8%) are not occupied by their owner(s), suggesting that it is renters who do.
4. ​Income aside, half of renters pay more than $600 above the national median gross rent.
5. Rent control would factor in a locale's cost of living.
6. Rent control would include housing not occupied by the incentivized owner, and is, therefore, non-dependent on public housing availability.

With Tavis Smiley, Cornel West co-authored The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto (2012). According to its description, he and Smiley partook in an 18-city poverty tour. Barack Obama was president at the time, and I remember that "middle-class"  was his stated constituency du jour. West was also one of the myriad speakers at the Moral March on Washington and to the Polls (Poor People's Campaign) last year. 

Whether or not West wins the presidency -- or the Green Party nomination -- he and his campaign are poised to set the stage for rising rents, income-stressed rents, and renters themselves on political campaign trails.

West has also issued regular press releases since he announced his candidacy for president. For further info on his campaign, visit CornelWest24.org.

* Rounded to the nearest $1,000

Black cat in purse ("Ava in another one of my purses" by ShanMcG213 | CC BY-SA 2.0)

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A post on "Cornel West to Seattle City Council: 'Vote YES on rent control. It is a moral imperative.'" (Cornel West for President)

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Jubalyn ExWilliams lives in Pennsylvania (United States). You'll find her writings and at times interpretation of basic data, like those inspired by "Cornel West to Seattle City Council: 'Vote YES on rent control. It is a moral imperative.'", at landturn.com/blog.

Commemorating 5 years of landturn.com​ (2019 - 2023)

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