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The old, discredited idea of rent control is a sleeper issue in the Minneapolis races for mayor and City Council, creating a danger to the economy if voters don’t pay attention. The city’s Nov. 4 election mainly revolves around voters’ views on public safety and Mayor Jacob Frey’s eight years in office as he tries for a third term. But Frey’s leading challenger, state Sen. Omar Fateh, and enough candidates for the City Council favor imposing limits on rents that voters eager for new blood in City Hall may create incredible economic damage by electing them. I don’t think anyone favoring rent control, including Fateh, should be elected. Using government power to cap rents has long been a goal of progressive Minneapolis activists who hope to help the city’s poor. They got a referendum passed in 2021 that put it on the City Council agenda. But a study of economic effects persuaded Frey and most council members not to do it. If Fateh and other leftists win, whether they call it “rent control” or “rent stabilization,” their policy won’t help the poor. They will hurt an already underperforming real estate market and a city economy all Minnesotans depend on. They will arrest the growth of Minneapolis just when it is getting back on its feet. The city fell in population after the pandemic and, data this summer showed, is finally back to where it was in 2020. They will also erase one of Minneapolis’ economic achievements in the last few years — its relatively low rate of growth of rental pricing. That’s been attributed to the wipeout of single-family zoning in the city’s 2040 Plan, but it was also likely influenced by relatively low demand.
