Happy Tuesday, and welcome to another edition of Rent Free.

This week's newsletter includes more than its fair share of rent control content. We cover a new lawsuit challenging New York's rent caps on vacant units as well as the Los Angeles City Council's vote to lower allowable rent increases on 650,000 rent-stabilized units.

But first, our lead item riffs off a recent essay by Ryan Puzycki on the government's successful war on flophouses. Puzycki describes how regulations destroyed what was once a thriving private market in very-low-cost housing. I provide some additional thoughts about whether we could, and should, try to revive the "banished bottom" of the last century's housing market.

Over at the City of Yes Substack, Puzycki has a very interesting, detailed essay on the disappear

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