My response to the Renters Alliance's letter concerning rent control

Earlier this month, the Mayor sent a letter on behalf of himself and City Council opposing the Rent Stabilization bill being considered by the Montgomery County Council. You can watch the discussion from our July 3 meeting here (discussion begins around the 36:00 mark).

In response, on July 10 the Montgomery County Renters Alliance sent a 6-page letter to myself, the Mayor and the rest of the Gaithersburg City Council detailing their disagreements with the positions and the rationale laid out by the Mayor.

Last Thursday, I replied to their email explaining my personal position on rent control. This afternoon, a quote from that email was included in a newsletter that the Renters Alliance Tweeted out (“Gaithersburg Councilmember Doubles Down on Rent Stabilization Letter”). In the interest of full transparency, I’m sharing the entirety of that email here:

Dear Mr. Losak and Members of the Board:

Thank you for your detailed and passionate response to Mayor Ashman’s letter, and for your advocacy on behalf our region’s renters. 

As you know, I voted in favor of extending the rental increase moratorium during the COVID-19 health emergency. At that time, I stated that in general I did not support rent control, but recognized the need to offer protections when we were asking people to stay home while they were sick to reduce the spread of the pandemic. 

Now that the health emergency has lapsed, my position has not changed. I do not believe it is the role of government to artificially set the pricing of housing or any other commodity, service, or goods. 

I recognize the significant challenges being faced by many in our city and county. I remain committed to working with our nonprofit partners to provide assistance where we can to those families who are cost burdened. Recently, the County announced it had purchased Westchester West Apartments to preserve 345 affordable units under the County’s Right of First Refusal, and immediately sold the property to the nonprofit housing organization Enterprise Community Development. I fully support these types of interventions to preserve affordable housing when appropriate and feasible. 

I also support efforts to increase our housing and rental stock here in Gaithersburg and across the county to help reduce the inflationary pressure on rents. As you may know, I voted in favor of the Lakeforest Sketch Plan and more recently, the Sketch Plan for the new development at the former Nike Missile Site off Muddy Branch Ave., both of which will be required to feature 15% affordable units. 

I welcome ongoing conversations to discuss other methods of providing relief to our cost burdened families, including finding ways to provide job training and increase investment in our community to provide better paying jobs that enable our residents to more easily afford the costs of living in the DMV. 

I know we disagree on rent control as an appropriate method, but please know we share a common goal.  I hope we can continue a positive dialogue for the benefit of our community . 

Very truly yours,

Jim

Jim McNulty
Council Member
City of Gaithersburg