The system is not an artifact of the city's past but a key policy for our collective future. Rent regulation is, in fact, an essential municipal service that continues to promote the public good despite problems of implementation and a generally negative public image. Listed below are brief analyses of these purposes and the extent to which they are currently being achieved.
Rent regulation takes a system-wide or market approach to achieving affordability.
It attempts to minimize market failure so that more households do not fall into a need for subsidy. The rent regulation system serves to stabilize rental prices in a market plagued by shortage. It is not the sole solution to the housing crisis, but it is a vital strategy designed to keep housing, a basic human need, within renters' financial reach. Since moderating rent levels involves balancing the interests of tenants and owners, regulation has promoted affordability only to a limited extent. However, the system has made New York City's rental housing more affordable than it would be in the absence of regulation.