U.S. rent control

In the United States during World War I, rents were "controlled" through the efforts of local rent anti-profiteering committees and public pressure. Between 1919 and 1924, a number of cities and states adopted rent and eviction control laws. Modern rent controls were first adopted in response to WWII-era shortages, or following Richard Nixon's 1971 wage and price controls. They remain in effect or have been reintroduced in some cities with large tenant populations, such as New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and Oakland, California. Many smaller communities also have rent control, notably Santa Monica, Berkeley, and West Hollywood, California[1] along with many small towns in New Jersey. In recent years, rent control in some cities, such as Boston, Massachusetts and Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been ended by state referenda.