Berkeley Planning Journal

Rising housing prices in California at the turn of the 21st century may be cause for a reevaluation of rent stabilization policies. Strong rent controls were dismantled in communities like Berkeley in the late 1990s, but little research has been conducted to measure the effects of the policy change on housing availability and rental prices. This paper investigates the impact of the current vacancy decontrol system on housing availability, adequacy, and affordability, while seeking to measure the lingering effects of the vacancy control system on the Berkeley rental housing market.