LETTER: Red tape drives up housing costs
September 21, 2019 - 9:00 pm
In your Thursday editorial on affordable housing, you note that the Minneapolis City Council recently “made it illegal for property owners to turn down tenants on the basis of bad credit or eviction history. The measure also limits security deposits.”
These kinds of laws drive up rents. What does the local government want, for landlords to lease their properties to those who are known not to pay rent?
This is one reason we have more homeless people. They cannot afford to pay rent because the property owners have to raise the rent high enough to protect themselves — and that’s too high for the average tenant.