> When I rented, I paid a flat rate. When rent increased, it only went up 10% at max.
10% is still a pretty serious increase. In France there's an index that is the max that rents can be increased with, and it's usually at max 6-7% (usually lower), and cannot be increased in areas that have significant housing shortage vis à vis demand.
Doesn't rent control compound the problem? In areas with housing shortage, if no one can move, then the supply is further constrained. New people moving into the city (or young people moving out of their parent's homes) have to pay current market prices.
Depends on which problem you're talking about. People getting priced out of the places they live by increasing rents? That one is solved by rent controls. The other big one, of people being unable to find where to live, is compounded to an extent, but coupled with other efforts (highly incentivised building of affordable and social housing, as well as various programs to help people buy the first time, and incentives to buy to rent (at fixed rates) it's not that bad.
All the renter's protections do create obstacles to renting though, with e.g. landlords demanding proof of salaries at least x3 or a guarantor with such salaries.
10% is still a pretty serious increase. In France there's an index that is the max that rents can be increased with, and it's usually at max 6-7% (usually lower), and cannot be increased in areas that have significant housing shortage vis à vis demand.