Maine faces a housing crisis, with rents skyrocketing and vacancy rates dwindling. As state and federal officials scramble to find solutions, one idea frequently floated is rent control — a policy that, on the surface, seems like a straightforward fix to the problem of rising rents. However, while rent control may offer short-term relief, it ultimately fails to address the root causes of housing scarcity and worsens the situation in the long run. Maine must focus on increasing supply, not stifling it with government intervention.

The numbers tell a dire story. In Portland, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is nearly $1,900 per month, a 72% increase over the past five years. Across the state, the situation is equally grim. According to the Maine State Housing Authority, Maine’s rental vacancy rate dropped below 3% in 2023, compared to a national average of 6.6%, underscoring the scarcity of available units. With wages not keeping pace, many Mainers are being priced out of their homes, exacerbating an already critical affordability problem.

The real issue in Maine is simple: we lack insufficient housing in both rural areas and urban centers to meet demand. According to a recent report, Maine needs more rental units to keep up with demand and has an 84,000-unit deficit.

The problem can only be addressed by increasing the number of homes available.

Maine Sen. Angus King has rightly observed that “one law that Congress cannot repeal is the law of supply and demand; limited supply will inevitably increase prices.” However, too many in Washington believe the government can solve the problem by sheer force or by opening the spending spigots.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris are emblematic of this failed approach. First, President Biden proposed a federal version of rent control, but this failed policy has backfired in cities such as San Francisco and New York, where I once had a rent-controlled apartment.

Instead of curbing rents, rent control reduces the incentive for landlords to maintain or build new properties, exacerbating housing shortages. It also distorts the rental market by decreasing the number of units available. People in rent-controlled units tend to stay in them since their rents are, in effect, subsidized, driving up the cost of available units for those seeking places to live. Simply put, rent control makes the problem of affordable housing worse.

According to a 2023 study by Stanford University, rent control in San Francisco reduced the overall supply of rental housing by 15%, as property owners were discouraged from developing new units or maintaining existing ones. Maine can’t afford to follow those failed blue-state initiatives.

Vice President Kamala Harris has taken this flawed approach one step further. She’s scapegoated algorithmic pricing software companies used by many property owners to determine the market price for their properties and called for the government to ban this technology. Talk about blaming the umpire when you don’t like the call!

Harris’s worst campaign proposal is to give first-time homeowners $25,000 down payment assistance when buying a home. That policy will drive up the price of homes by $25,000 as the market adjusts, recognizing that buyers now have more purchasing power.

When more money is injected into the market without a corresponding increase in the supply of homes, prices inevitably rise. Imagine the effect of these subsidies on cities and towns such as Portland, Brunswick, Lewiston or Waterville would do to already sky-high home prices!

Maine’s housing crisis is too urgent for quick fixes or politically motivated solutions that ignore basic economic principles. Instead, policymakers should focus on solutions that directly increase the housing supply, such as streamlining zoning laws, reducing construction barriers, and encouraging private investment in new housing developments.

What’s more, they should stop subsidizing legal immigrants and asylees, who put upward pressure on the housing market as well as pursue broader economic policies that will reduce inflation and bring the cost of building materials down.

Programs that work with market forces rather than against them represent the only sensible way to make housing more affordable for all Mainers.

Jean M. Yarbrough is the Gary M. Pendy, Sr. Professor of Social Sciences and Professor of Government and Legal Studies at Bowdoin College in Brunswick.