Editing Gentrification (section)

====Rent control====
In jurisdictions where local or national government has these powers, there may be [[rent control]] regulations. Rent control restricts the rent that can be charged, so that incumbent tenants are not forced out by rising rents. If applicable to private landlords, it is a disincentive to speculating with property values, reduces the incidence of dwellings left empty, and limits availability of housing for new residents. If the law does not restrict the rent charged for dwellings that come onto the rental market (formerly owner-occupied or new build), rents in an area can still increase. Neighborhoods in southwestern [[Santa Monica, California|Santa Monica]] and eastern [[West Hollywood, California|West Hollywood]] in [[California]], United States gentrified despite—or perhaps, because of—rent control.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Heskin |first1=Allan D. |last2=Levine |first2=Ned |last3=Garrett |first3=Mark |title=The Effects of Vacancy Control: A Spatial Analysis of Four California Cities |journal=Journal of the American Planning Association |date=30 June 2000 |volume=66 |issue=2 |pages=162–176 |doi=10.1080/01944360008976096 |s2cid=153160869 }}</ref>

Occasionally, a housing [[black market]] develops, wherein landlords withdraw houses and apartments from the market, making them available only upon payment of additional [[key money]], fees, or bribes—thus undermining the rent control law. Many such laws allow "vacancy decontrol", releasing a dwelling from rent control upon the tenant's leaving—resulting in steady losses of rent-controlled housing, ultimately rendering rent control laws ineffective in communities with a high rate of resident turnover. In other cases [[social housing]] owned by local authorities may be [[Right to buy scheme|sold to tenants]] and then sold on. Vacancy decontrol encourages landlords to find ways of shortening their residents' tenure, most aggressively through [[landlord harassment]]. To strengthen the rent control laws of [[New York City|New York]], housing advocates active in [[rent control in New York]] are attempting to repeal the vacancy decontrol clauses of rent control laws. The state of [[Massachusetts]] abolished rent control in 1994; afterwards, rents rose, accelerating the pace of [[Boston]]'s gentrification; however, the laws protected few apartments, and confounding factors, such as a strong economy, had already been raising housing and rental prices.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.tenant.net/Alerts/Guide/papers/dreier/dreier2.html#anchor4305940 |title=Rent Deregulation in California and Massachusetts: Politics, Policy, and Impacts&nbsp;— Part II |first=Peter |last=Dreier |year=1997 |website=tenant.net |access-date=4 February 2009}}</ref>