Various rent control articles from internet search.

The Wall Street Journal notes more than a dozen states are investigating rent controls as rent spiral higher.

"Rents are exploding at a pace far faster than income," said Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, an economist and professor at Columbia Business School who researches rent control. "The problem is now as bad as it has ever been. And probably much worse."

Rent Control Seekers

In 2019, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposed a national rent-control law. 

California and Oregon advanced rent-control bills the same year, now laws in both states.

St. Paul, Minn., enacted last fall the only rent control in the Midwest, and now has one of the most stringent policies in the country. While many rent-control measures make exceptions for new buildings or vacant units, St. Paul's law doesn't.

In Santa Ana, Calif., local officials have gone beyond the state's rent-control measure, which caps annual rent increases at 5% plus local inflation, to limit local rent increases to 3% at apartments built before 1995.

Massachusetts Democrats are advancing a bill that would repeal that state ban on rent control.

In Florida, another state that pre-empts local rent controls, lawmakers in Miami and Tampa—where asking rents are up more than 30% over the past year—have discussed declaring housing emergencies to pass rent control.

Florida state Sen. Victor Torres, a Democrat representing parts of Greater Orlando, is proposing to overturn Florida's rent-control ban. 

In Colorado, State House Rep. Andrew Boesenecker aims to cap mobile-home lot rents by the greater of either 3% or the local inflation rate in any year. "We've seen rent increases anywhere up to 50%," Mr. Boesenecker said. "We have to do something to protect this affordable housing source."