2018-2019
MILESTONES
INDUSTRY MILESTONE ASSOCIATION MILESTONE EVENT MILESTONE
RENTAL HOMES IN
METRO DENVER RENTAL HOMES
REPRESENTED IN AAMD
MEMBERSHIP OWNER / MANAGEMENT
ATTENDANCE AT
MAINTENANCE OLYMPICS
352,872
AS OF MAY 2019
237,487
AS OF MAY 2019
1,369
ACHIEVED IN APRIL 2019
RENT CONTROL DEFEATED... FOR NOW
S
enate Bill 19-225, was introduced
on April 1st at the Colorado
State Capitol. It repeals the
statewide ban on rent control and grant
local governments authority to impose
rent control policies. This
proposal relinquishes
state responsibility to
more volatile local
governments.
Proponents of
the bill believed
this bill will solve
the housing
affordability
issue. Housing
issues are best
addressed on a
regional level,
but this bill if
implemented
would have created
a patchwork of
rental housing pricing
policies set by local
governments that would
impact the entire community.
The Association was founded to fight
rent control back in 1968. Now over 50
years later, we formed a Colorado Rent
Control War Cabinet with members who
www.aamdhq.org
volunteered and stepped up to the plate to
defeated this legislation. Our team consisted
of our top industry leaders, our Novitas
PR Firm, and our lobbyist team at Axiom
Strategies, the National Apartment
Association (NAA) and the
National MultiHousing
Council (NMHC).
However, the
fight is not over,
as it is widely
assumed rent
control will
be coming
back this next
legislative
session as well
as talk of a
ballot initiative
in 2020.
Decades of
rent control in
cities like New York
and San Francisco
have shown that the
policy hurts renters in the
cities in which it is imposed and
has a significant negative spillover effect
to neighboring non-rent controlled cities,
which is why local control was so alarming
when it was being imposed in Colorado.
As we go into the next legislative session
in 2020, our Rent Control War Cabinet
hopes to present solutions and work with
legislators and the community on finding
real solutions to the affordability issue in
Colorado, including:
• Finding new opportunities to build
more supply that includes a wide
variety and range of housing options
• Seek opportunities to increase the
rental housing supply – especially near
transit corridors and job centers
• Encourage public-private partnerships
such as LIVE Denver that create
more affordable housing in the areas
it is most needed, and increase direct
financial assistance to families in need.
The upfront short impact of rent control
implementation is strongly outweighed by
the longer-term marketplace distortions.
The bottom line is rent control
restrictions have negative and unintended
consequences compared to what
policymakers and activists intend. The
aftermath of implementing rent control
policies will include fewer apartments
to be built, supply of housing lessens,
gentrification will be fueled, and rents will
escalate (on non-rent control housing), all of
which worsen the housing crisis.
JUNE 2019
TRENDS | 17