When I served in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, I spent three years trying to help millions of Americans share in the dream of homeownership. In doing so, I saw how stable, affordable housing provides a foundation for families’ success.
However, skyrocketing home and rental prices over the past few years have put the American dream out of reach for millions. Maryland has been hit particularly hard. Home prices here are as high as 44% more than the national average. If you are a renter, the news doesn’t get better. Maryland is right up there with California and Hawaii on the list of states with the highest rental costs in the country.
Politicians from both parties, of course, have proposed solutions to the problem. Some benefit consumers, while others exacerbate an already tough situation.
During her run for the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris proposed several important initiatives to address this critical shortage. From tax credits and down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers to incentives for builders to invest in new construction, these positive proposals would have positively affected this vexing problem.
However, she also proposed rent control. While it sounds like a cure-all solution in its attempt to freeze renters’ prices, rent control almost always has the opposite effect. It discourages property owners from investing in new housing, reduces supply and drives prices even higher.
That is why 81% of U.S. economists do not support it, and it is why my HUD colleagues and I never considered it to be a viable solution.
Unfortunately, last week, Maryland’s Attorney General Anthony Brown executed a misguided solution — a lawsuit scapegoating technology for high rental prices. His lawsuit against property management software company RealPage is just a means of imposing rent control indirectly through the judicial system instead of going through Congress or the Maryland General Assembly. Blaming software for the high price of rent is akin to blaming the thermometer because you have a fever.
This software analyzes market trends to help property managers set rental prices in line with local demand and supply. If demand in a particular neighborhood is weak, the software will even lower the suggested rate amount, ensuring properties remain occupied and affordable within the realities of the local market.
The simple truth is that the government could outlaw this software tomorrow and rents would stay the same, as no software can extinguish the law of supply and demand. Worse is that eliminating this software might even increase prices because it may cause some owners to pull their properties from the market.
This would exacerbate Maryland’s housing shortage, making the properties that remain available to renters more expensive. If politicians want to help renters, a good place to start is by repealing and amending laws or ordinances that restrict the construction of new units, thus driving up prices.
Local zoning laws limit the construction of new units, and even new energy rules are driving up prices. For example, Maryland passed a law in 2022 aiming to cut 60% of carbon emissions by 2031. To meet these standards, new home construction often includes solar energy, battery storage and electric vehicle charging stations — all costly additions that add thousands of dollars to the bottom line.
Maryland should focus its housing policies on reducing barriers to development rather than adding new ones.
States that have successfully addressed housing shortages — such as Texas, where cities like Austin have seen a 12.6% decline in rental prices — have prioritized loosening restrictions, streamlining permitting processes and promoting new construction to meet demand. The result has been an influx of new housing, easing pressure on renters and creating a healthier, more balanced market. Maryland could see similar benefits by following this path.
Rather than going after industry technology or enforcing restrictive mandates, Maryland policymakers should look to these successful models and focus on the underlying issues — the housing shortage, inflationary pressures and overregulation.
Directly addressing these challenges would allow Maryland residents a better chance at affordable housing and bring the American dream within reach for more families.
David Byrd served as a deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Policy Development and Research and as national director of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency. He lives in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.