buried_lede OP t1_j4qolkg wrote on January 17, 2023 at 4:29 PM

Reply to comment by HartfordResident in ConnCAT Dixwell apartments by buried_lede

Without requiring affordable units, lifting those rules makes housing more expensive, except when excess inventory drives the price down.

For instance, some landlords are renting rooms in apartments now instead of apartments, allowing them to get far more for the apartment than if they rented the apartment as a whole. All of those size and footprint breaks would do the same—-allow gouging in the absence of excess inventory or requirement for affordable units.

Many of New haven’s landlords are private equity funds. They’ll mug your grandmother if you aren’t looking

HartfordResident t1_j4qp5fk wrote on January 17, 2023 at 4:32 PM

No, those are all rules that are well known to increase affordability. In some cases the unit that the rule applies to might be more expensive - for example, a taller building might have more expensive units because the apartments at the top have a better view and rent for more - but that's certainly not the usual scenario. Overall, the effect is that more apartments get built, which means there are more homes to go around. Every time a new apartment gets built (or a large apartment gets split into two apartments), it opens up an apartment for someone else.

buried_lede OP t1_j4t4h09 wrote on January 18, 2023 at 1:51 AM

In the case where they are renting out each room in, say, a three bedroom apt, the landlord is increasing the revenue from the apartment.

That’s a formula being used often now for newly developed, student focused apartment complexes.

If you’re running a private equity fund, those rules will bring the landlord’s costs down, not necessarily the rent. They have to mandate affordable units or the city won’t get them, unless and until inventory outstrips demand.