Some U.S. Cities Work to Slow Surge in Single Family Home Rentals as Portland, Seattle Lose Them

Elected leaders in Stockbridge, Georgia passed a moratorium on building single-family homes for rent last year. Officials in Newark, New Jersey, are also opposed to single-family rentals. At the same time, government bureaucrats in Dallas are researching options to cap how much property real estate investors can buy. 

Efforts to regulate rentals in many cities, though well-intentioned, appear to be backfiring. For example, a recent ECONorthwest report revealed the Portland metro area lost a total of 6,417 single-family home rentals between 2015 and 2020. Similarly, The City of Seattle lost 4,858 single-family rentals between 2018 and 2021. Rental housing providers cite increasing government regulations of rentals coupled with rising home values as reasons for the losses, which are serving to exacerbate the lack of rental housing available.