Developers and business leaders, who acknowledge a severe shortage of affordable housing, have argued for market-based solutions that encourage more dense housing along transportation corridors.
"At minimum you have to develop the opportunity for the private sector to supply those affordable units. That's at least half the battle. Beyond that, the marketplace will dictate where such profitability resides," said Stuart Gabriel, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. "From an economic perspective, rent control is not always a good long-run solution in the sense that it does not result in significant added supply of affordable units…. We need to turn our attention to a series of incentive structures and programs that go beyond rent control."
Gabriel saw the results of the analysis differently.
"The fact that we're even able to remain at the level of prior years should be viewed as a positive outcome, given market forces that make it nearly impossible to develop affordable housing," he said.