PRIORITIES FOR LAWMAKERS Detroit lawmakers want state’s ban on rent control lifted

Developers warn of unintended consequences amid drive to help tenants

BY ARIELLE KASS, KIRK PINHO AND DAVID EGGERT

Seeing an opportunity in a newly Democratic-led legislature, Detroit City Council members are considering a resolution that would ask the state to lift a 35-yearold prohibition on rent control.

Michigan’s 1988 ban on rent control stops Detroit and other cities from enacting local restrictions on high rent increases. A request from Detroit to give the city more exibility in limiting rent increases would be another step in its multipronged e ort to grapple with rising housing costs. Close to onethird of residents in Detroit live at or below the federal poverty level. Whether rent control would work to solve a deeply entrenched housing issue in Detroit and elsewhere remains an open question.

Developers say it would limit housing supply and make the economics of development in the city even more di cult.

Academics and tenant-rights advocates are divided on whether it is bene cial as a whole, with many researchers tending to be more suspicious of its long-term bene ts. Nationwide, about 200

See RENT CONTROL on Page 20