The Rent is Too Damn High 1 – Letters Of Liberty

**“The Rent is Too Damn High 1”, MC Weekly, Sept. 14, 2023**

A rental registry will not produce one more rental unit nor will it lower the cost of renting a home (“Monterey City Council is set to vote on a proposed rental registry,” posted Sept. 4). Quite the opposite. It doesn’t take a graduate degree in economics to understand the concept of supply and demand. The City of Monterey has failed to keep up with the need for rental housing. A rental registry will decrease the availability of rental units on the market. Rental units will become more scarce and rents will increase.

As one Monterey City Council member said publicly, “I am not an economist. I don’t really understand this.” Passing a rental registry ordinance confirms his ignorance.

Kelsey Sayer | Monterey